Ivan Lesay was born in Trnava, (Czecho-)Slovakia, in 1980. He studied and taught political science and political economy at universities in Trnava, Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna. He has been working in the area of European investments and green energy.
He authored several expert books and papers. His works include a popular study of the 2008 Financial Crisis co-authored with Prof. Joachim Becker.
He writes lyrics for the Trnava-based hardcore-crossover formation Fishartcollection, who are two-time finalists of the Radio Head Awards under the category Hard & Heavy. He made his literary debut with a children’s book. Lesay authored several short stories, including some for radio. His debut novel Topografia bolesti (The Topography of Pain) was published in 2020 and scored 3rd in the national Book of the year 2020 award. The English translation of the novel The Topography of Pain will be published on November 1, 2024, by the Canadian publisher Guernica Editions.His second book for kids Frenky. The Hot-blooded Lizard and Her Unusual Family (HANT) was published in Czech at the end of 2023.
The Topography of Pain
Three maps, one birthplace. Three epochs, one sorrow. A common thread of high ambitions, dashed hopes, and betrayed ideals runs through them all. Naďa’s failing health forces her to confront her moral principles. It is her body and she can use it the way she wants. Jaro, in the midst of the post-Communist transition, undergoes a profound life review as he loses all his illusions. Adam represents the culmination of these intertwined stories, emerging as the first man in an uncertain and fluid future world, easy-going, weary-falling.
Reviews
Usually we don’t know the past, we don’t understand the present and we don’t dare to imagine the future. But Ivan Lesay knows and understands and he also dares to imagine, when in his extraordinary triptych he takes us on a journey through time from communist Czechoslovakia through Slovakia’s transitional present to the futuristic world of tomorrow, in which people can finally live out all their fantasies, precisely those that the past forbade and persecuted, and the present promised their fulfillment, only to cruelly crush its promises. The Topography of Pain is a surprising narrative about the worlds of yesterday, today and tomorrow, a brave writing odyssey by a talented writer that demands an equally brave and talented reader.
—Goran Vojnović, writer, screenwriter and film director, Slovenia
Part critical portrayal of life in present-day Slovakia, part sobering look at the country’s recent past with the euphoria of the Velvet Revolution replaced by growing cynicism, and part chilling depiction of a dystopian future, Ivan Lesay’s ambitious debut novel deftly switches perspectives, letting the reader guess the relations between its three protagonists: the beautiful student Naďa, the aspiring journalist Jaro, and Adam, a young man who falls down to earth from dizzying technological heights.
—Julia Sherwood, translator, United Kingdom
Once upon a time there was a land where an authoritarian regime held sway over the nation. But one day revolution ignited, and the system broke down. The country broke in two. The people broke in pieces. It hurt, and the pain endured as they started searching their path forward, some striving valiantly, others less so. The Topography of Pain unfolds as an intricate narrative that delves deep into the torment spanning three generations, unveiling its myriad facets, whether surreal, hyperrealistic, or postapocalyptic. At its culmination stands a man named Adam, who has the chance to cut the chain and bring himself, the family, the country back to the joint. In the end there is hope.
—Alexandra Salmela, writer, Finland
Someone who just wants to be left in peace is being hit hard by destiny and biology. Ordinary people have extraordinary lives. Periphery happens to live the very essence of the history. Is it because of the time and the place? Generation between two eras, country between the big worlds. All kinds of division here! Plus lots of love and alcohol, very naturally present.
—Jānis Joņevs, writer, Latvia
