Vietnam Women's Publishing House has just introduced the work "Black Night, Nearly Night", which won the prestigious Nike Literature Award in Poland in 2013. Interspersed between horror and detective, author Joanna Bator uses a concise, sophisticated language and many metaphors that are considered "ctsely to creepy" to explore the darkness in the human soul.
In "Black Night, Nearly Night", Bator takes readers into a world that is both painful and magical, beautiful and cruel. The story revolves around Alicja Tabor, a female journalist who returns to Valbrych to write a report about three missing children. Here, Alicja faces "devils" in himself, from family tragedy to extreme religious superstition, and even supernatural haunting phenomena.
The secrets are hidden in the darkness, the evil appears suddenly and can only temporarily be neutralized. The image of pets eating cats becomes a metaphor for the evil people, while women who love cats and care for cats are a symbol of hope and efforts to repair the world.
The story revolves not only around Alicja but also reveals Eva - the deceased sister, the treasure-hunting father and the mother Anna Lipiec - a scary but deeply hurt woman. The religious fanaticism, hatred and violence appear through the character Labedz and online forums, making readers both scared and nervous.
With a storytelling style interwoven with many layers of stories, Bator creates a haunting atmosphere, requiring readers to be patient and sensitive. "Black Night, Nearly Night" is not an easy-to- read detective novel but a work that explores the depths of darkness in each person, using a dark but suggestive language.
The book won the 2013 Nike Literature Award, the Gwarancje Kultury Award, was nominated for the Gryfia Award and reached the semi-finals of the Angelus Central European Literature Award, and was adapted into a film in 2019, affirming Joanna Bator's great influence in contemporary Polish literature.
