Memory Burn

Memory Burn, is a coming-of-age story of a queer boy from a Czech industrial town. Torčík’ delves into the recesses of memory in an effort to come to terms with painful memories from his childhood. As a homosexual boy with a slight build growing up in a small industrial town, the protagonist of the story faces severe bullying at school, but his problems aren’t over once he gets home: his mother, a low-paid factory worker who has to look after her father, an alcoholic nearing the end of his life, has very little tolerance of her son’s sexual orientation. One bright spot amid the bleakness of small-town life is the friendship he strikes up with a Romany classmate, Marian, which later develops into a romantic relationship. In the novel Memory Burn, Marek Torčík not only describes people living on the fringes of society in a convincing, sophisticated and precise way but also implies that sometimes it is better to wipe the slate clean and liberate oneself from negative childhood memories.

The Czech original of the novel (Rozložíš paměť) won the 2024 Magnesia Litera Award and the 2024 Jiří Orten Prize.