Authors
Alexandra BERKOVÁ
Author of prose fiction and screenplays, Alexandra Berková was born in Trenčín, Slovakia, on 2 July 1949. She graduated from glass-making school in Kamenický Šenov and then studied Czech and art education at Prague University. In 1973–81 she worked as an editor for the Svoboda and Československý spisovatel publishing houses. In 1989 she helped to found the Czech Writers’ Union. She was teaching creative writing at the Josef Švorecký School (a private secondary school and specialized college) and the Literature Academy, both in Prague., she collaborated with Czech Television, which has produced a number of films based on her scripts: Pánská jízda (Boys’ Night Out) in 1983, Bumerang (Boomerang) in 1986, Dva t. č. v zel. hl. dvě ves. nekuř. (Two Men Currently Doing National Service Seek Two Merry Non-Smokers) in 1986 – all directed by Karel Smyczek, Dámská jízda (Girls’ Night Out) in 1987, directed by Vít Olmer and Co teď a co potom? (What Now and What Then?) in 1991, directed by Hynek Bočan. Alexandra Berková died on June 16, 2008.
Berková is one of those women writers who openly advocate the feminist view of human relationships and society as a whole. She writes fiction that can best be characterized as non-thematic, experimenting mainly with narrative form, often alternating different levels of diction and changing the role of the narrator or his or her psychological outlook – from rational analysis to an expressive stance. More than the subject matter, drawn together from the world falling apart around her, what establishes the generative force of her narrative is language itself, the word and its allusiveness, resonance and complex lexical combinations. The author is so fascinated by this, that every suggestion of tragedy in her writing is immediately brushed off by a comic, grotesque or paradoxical situation, remark or image. The subtext of these works reveals her fondness for inter-textual games, for the alternation of styles and types of narrative, ranging from dramatic dialogue to pastiche. In the 1980s, as the policy of reinstituted hard-line Communism continued in Czechoslovakia, Berková was attracting attention with her first work, Knížka s červeným obalem (The Little Book with the Red Cover). The collection of stories signalled her affection for devising texts rooted in the plot, texts that grow into an inexhaustible series of scenes, situations and dialogues rather than continuous, incessant narration. The author further perplexes the reader by blurring the boundary between the real and the unreal, and substituting new narrators within a single narrative sequence, often developed as a compound sentence. The nineteen stories of the collection bring together the worlds of the birth, childhood, adolescence, maturity, motherhood, and, ultimately, death of the heroine, despite the fact that she is not one and the same character. The literary critic Milan Suchomel has commented on her work: ‘Names change, and with each story the young girl matures. She collects experiences. They are open and specific, and merge as voices merge in the open companionship of a dialogue. Everybody is free to express himself or herself; the interweaving and permeability match the openness of meaning and involvement. The stories […] betray no attempt to create a single rounded-off character or narrative; they are fragments, observations, notes, anecdotes, etudes, sketches and games, experiments with finding one’s position in the stream of events, of letting oneself be carried away but breaking away from frustration, delusion and subjection.’ With her second work of fiction, Magorie aneb Příběh velké lásky (Magoria or A Tale of Great Love), Berková entered a world of metaphorical fiction, of complex architectural structures where the imaginary once again merges with the real and the personal micro-story is an image of society as a whole. In the text which soon reveals itself as a parable of the techniques of Socialist Realism from the 1950s, we find ourselves with an insignificant, ordinary family whose most revolutionary member is the wistful father. His act of revolt, which calls for the removal of a government of fools, takes place only in his dreams. In reality, within the family circle, he becomes aware of possible consequences of his boastfulness, and, together with others, slips into a typical situation of feigning heated arguments about the social order. An additional, happier plot line introduces the son Jiřík and his love for a girl named Blanokřídlá (Hymenopterous). Owing in part to the employment of fairytale techniques, her figure assumes a form almost as fictional as the father’s act of rebellion. The title Utrpení oddaného Všiváka (The Sorrows of a Devoted Scoundrel) follows the same metaphorical line. Here, Berková depicts the lives of her main characters on a more general plane, in a style utilizing the rhythm of the Old Testament, referring to biblical people and places and assuming a form that the late novelist-critic Vladimír Macura aptly termed ‘modern Apocrypha’. The Scoundrel roams the world, examining the path of his existence: ‘There is no sense in fleeing; the beasts are quicker anyway. Our identity is cancer-ridden – we are far too worthless, too small, (yawns) poor little things (stretches himself), but we shouldn’t victimize ourselves, it’s all our fault… aaah… (yawns, stretches himself and scratches his belly), we have lost all the mirrors, we are incapable of self-reflection … we can’t define ourselves – eeeh… (rubs his eyes with both fists), we are crawling down History backwards, bottoms first – they say the world is for everyone – well, of course – but then, inferior people live inferior lives – (slowly losing consciousness)….’ Her book Temná láska (Dark Love) provoked passionate, negative reactions from some literary critics and readers. With this volume she places herself, playing on a single string, openly on the side of degraded femininity in contemporary society and of the woman’s lot in the intimate relationship of the sexes. The novella is framed by therapeutic conversations between the heroine and her doctor, where she sketches all that has happened to her in the past and looks for paths for her future. In the first part of the novella, the author treats the start of her heroine’s love affair with a man, its gradual and chiefly emotional decline, until finally no space remains for expressing the most elemental emotions, even among family members. The woman is a mere instrument for handed-down family roles, an emotionally exploited being, while the man is a despotic character, systematically doing away with his wife. In the middle part, the heroine embarks on a path of self-discovery and purification, which takes the shape of overcoming her Electra complex and her suffering, admitting she is unable to take risks, and finding the courage to change the stereotypes in her life. In its final part, the work nonetheless offers no outright catharsis whereby the heroine would find the path leading her to a discernible goal.
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The profile was updated in 2007
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Alexandra BERKOVÁ, Deutsch.doc
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