BOOK REVIEW: The Attempt by Magdalena Platzova - BONUS RECIPE: Tagliatelle with Broccoli Rabe and Venison Sausage

The Attempt BY ALEX ZUCKER (TRANS.), MAGDALÉNA PLATZOVÁ
The English edition of Czech author Platzová’s latest novel is a condensed and masterful example of experimental literary fiction with historical roots: a nesting of contemporary and generational storylines, epistolary and narrative, personal, political, and social perspective, in the tradition of Prus, Kundera, and Vonnegut. In the wake of a failed marriage, journalist Jan Schwarzer relocates from Prague to New York City during the height of the Occupy Wall Street movement. He is there ostensibly to write a book on the pre-war assassination attempt of a U.S industrialist by an anarchist writer who may, or may not, be his ancestor. But as he investigates, interviews the magnate’s surviving descendants, and pores through the correspondence of the jailed shooter and his lovers and friends, the event foreshadows much deeper interconnections: his personal longings, political mood, the despair and disparity of his own life and time. The politics are murky, and those looking for pure anti-capitalist polemic will be disappointed. But helpless disappointment with political ideals and their aftermath is a core motif – compare the affective tableau of Milan Kundera’s post-war Eastern Europe. Platzová paints a contemporary New York of neo-Bohemian values, slowly, but finally inheriting the sense of lost grandeur long native to European urbanity. Her writing style is varied, sparing, insightful, and at times nothing short of poetic. Enthusiastically recommended.

Review first published in The Historical Novel Review


BONUS RECIPE: Tagliatelle with Broccoli Rabe and Venison Sausage

1 lb. Broccoli Rabe, cleaned and rough cut
1 box Tagliatelli
1/2 lb. sweet venison sausage, crumbled
4  cloves fresh garlic, finely minced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1 tsp. salt (large pinch more for pasta water)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups veal stock
Good parmesan cheese
Half a lemon

Boil the pasta in a large pot of salted water until almost al dente.
Meanwhile, in a large high-sided sauté pan, sauté the sausage over medium heat until crisp, strain, set aside, and preserve the rendered fat.
To the fat add the olive oil, lower heat, add garlic and red pepper, simmering until the garlic barely begins to brown (do not burn the garlic!). Turn heat up to high and add veal stock.
When pasta has one minute left to cook, strain and add to the sauté, and toss broccoli rabe into still boiling pasta water. Stir the pasta in the sauté pan until most of the stock and oil has been absorbed. After three minutes, remove, strain, and quickly cool the broccoli rabe (an ice water bath works best) to preserve the bright green color. Add to the sauté, mix all, and plate in a large bowl. Finish with lemon and sprinkle with grated parmesan to taste.  Pairs well with a good Chianti Classico.