At the same time, the author touches on the emotional, political and social variety of his fellow countrymen and -women, who have found a refuge in Canada. They came either immediately post-WWII or after the Communist crackdown in 1968, which had crushed what had become known as the Prague Spring.

In the novel, the engineer of human souls happens to be a Czech writer, Danny Smiricky, who flees his country in 1968 and finds a refuge in Canadian academia. In this new life, Danny is nevertheless haunted by the past, and so moves not only around in Canadian society, but is constantly drawn back to his own ethnic circle.

What he encounters there is not always flattering to Smiricky's compatriots. Each of their motives for leaving Czechoslovakia differs, which can cause considerable friction among them as they meet in their favorite haunts. It must be remembered that until the breakup of the Soviet empire after 1989, Czechoslovakia was still one country. Since the writing of the novel, it has broken into two independent countries.

In his description of the social milieu of his fellow Czechs and Slovaks, Skvorecky captures perfectly the internecine conflicts that invariably exist among the individuals in ethnic groups in Canada. These are spikey relationships as its members squabble, fight, exclude and look down or up to various individuals because they cannot let go of the past. Instead they bring all of their former conflicts here and continue them as they gather in clubs, or other forms of social activity. It makes one wonder why people leave their countries to come here only to continue living as they have always done. It is a sad comment on those individuals, who are unable or unwilling to adapt to a new society. Only Danny appears to half-way adapt to his surroundings through his relationship with his students. Still, he too, always goes back to that close-knit circle of his ethnic origins. Yet, he appears to receive no real solace from doing so.

Skvorecky uses humor to lessen the destructive impact of these failed relationships, which nevertheless continue because each sees Canadians as inferior beings. This is not, of course, a phenomenon singular to Czechs and Slovaks. Many ethnic groups display this in various attitudes, especially by failing to make any attempt to mix in with fellow Canadians. While their ethnic customs and dishes have added much to what makes Canada interesting, it is often insulting that these newcomers, even decades later, still have never adopted what we consider Canadian traditions.

There are several instances in the novel where the male characters always describe Canadian women as less than desirable. Skvorecky is not the only ethnic novelist who has resorted to this. I recently read a novel by a German writer, Arno Surminski, who had absolutely nothing good to say about Canada, its inhabitants, and its customs. He, at least, returned to his native soil after failing to find happiness here. The damage and misinformation, however, these writers cause by creating a negative image of Canadians is hard to counteract.

Skvorecky, who lives here and has taught at the University of Toronto, nevertheless writes only in Czech. While we can shrug off the negative image of Canadians, especially the women, and smile at the humor he brings to this intrinsically sad and tragic tale, it makes one feel sorry for what seems to be a misspent life. It always amazes me why people live here physically, but have their heads in their native country. Why can they not let go?

How often have we read ethnic authors who tell us through their novels or in interviews that they feel they are neither one or the other? By this they mean they are not really Canadian, yet they also no longer feel comfortable on visits to their native land. What happens to these individuals is that as they continue to live here, they grow distant from the natural changes in their original countries, yet their minds still dwell on a way of life that is no longer true. At the same time, because they move only in their ethnic circles here where every attempt is made to preserve what has become a static way of life, they are not really part of Canada other than working and living here.

Skvorecky, who has received the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction for this novel, and also international awards for other works, captures this conflict in The Engineer of Human Souls with considerable skill. Yet, having read several of his novels, one gets the feeling, he is in a way writing about himself; the impression is created that the conflicts these characters encounter are also his own.

Most of all though, the importance of Skvorecky's The Engineer of Human Souls rests on his description of the survivors and the victims of the dictatorships. Some remain at home or emigrate to other countries than Canada. The novel's protagonist, Danny Smiricky, stays in contact with them through one means or another. What Skvorecky has done is paint a picture of those who survive and those who are inevitably crushed by one or the other dictatorship. In that respect, he gives us a deep insight into the human psyche, as it struggles against or simply adapts to its surroundings for survival.