In the old Saxon town of Hamelin, a stranger appears with a magical fife. He promises to rid the town of its rats for the sum of 100 Rhine Ducats. When its desperate citizens agree to hire his services, he plays his fife and lures the rats to the river. But can Hamelin ever be truly void of all its vermin? Viktor Dyk's rendition of the Pied Piper legend masterfully blends lyrical prose with early twentieth century modernist perspective. For over a century, The Ratcatcher has held its own among the great works of Czech literature, but now this classic is introduced to us in English for the first time.
About the Author:

Viktor Dyk was born in 1877 in Pskov near Mělník. He was a prominent Czech writer, poet, playwright, political commentator, and politician. He completed a degree in Law at Charles University in Prague, and in 1907 he became an editor for the magazine Lumir, a literary journal that sought to elevate Czech literature to a global level. He entered politics in 1911 and ran as a candidate for the Constitutional Progressive Party of the Imperial Council. He advocated the secession of Bohemia and Moravia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and for his subversive writings, he was jailed in Vienna from 1916 until 1917. In 1918, he became one of the founding members of the conservative Czechoslovak National Democracy Party, and in 1920, was elected to parliament. As a politician, Dyk often opposed the policies of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia; he continued to write and publish his own work, and acted as an editor for the Narodní Listy (National Leaflets), a conservative newspaper. Viktor Dyk died in 1931 of a heart attack while vacationing by the Adriatic Sea in Croatia.

Roman Kostovski has a B.A. in Russian Language andtr International Relations from the College of William and Mary, and an M.A. in Russian Language and Linguistics from the University of Maryland. He also holds a Lecturer of Czech Certification from Charles University in Prague. He has taught Czech at George Washington University and worked as a Central and Southeastern European Media Analyst at Georgetown University. He translates poetry and prose from Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Slovak into English. His translations have appeared in numerous journals, including Absinthe-New European Writings and Watchword Press. His translation of Arnost Lustig's Porgess was published by Northwestern University Press in 2006, and his translation of Viktor Dyk's Czech classic The Ratcatcher was published by Plamen Press in 2014. He founded Plamen Press in 2013, a print-on-demand publishing house for the promotion of literature from Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe throughout the English-speaking world. He works and resides in Washington, D.C.