Authors
Tereza BOUČKOVÁ
Tereza Boučková was born on May 24, 1957, in Prague. After graduating high school, and then signing Charter 77, she worked as a cleaning woman, postwoman, and concierge. In the mid-1980s she moved from Prague to central Bohemia where she devoted her time to family life and writing her novels, which deal with women’s issues, and columns and feuilletons for newspapers.
Though Boučková’s first literary efforts were banned, she was able to publish in samizdat, and this is where her first work of prose, the triptych Indiánský běh (Indian Run), first appeared. Of the three pieces comprising the book, the eponymous story caused the greatest sensation as it described the author’s childhood and youth and critically examined a number of prominent personalities (her father, for example, the playwright Pavel Kohout, as well as future president Václav Havel). But what strikes home the most in these stories is the emphasis placed on how one experiences private situations, the protagonist’s tenaciousness in “living her own life.” The author’s honest and frank descriptions of and commentary on what is taking place around her (and this is still before the revolution in November of 1989) are more than sarcastic and contain a tinge of latent reproach. At the same time, the triptych reveals the theme that has become the alpha and omega of all the author’s subsequent work: the life of a young woman searching for her social identity, trying to fully realize her various talents and aptitudes. Her heroines frequently encounter a number of stumbling blocks that have to be dealt with. These might be political or bureaucratic barriers, but more often it’s human egotism and self-centeredness — moral disorders that Boučková has passionately lambasted and pilloried particularly in the two works of “women’s fiction” that followed: Křepelice (The Quail) and Když milujete muže (When You Love a Man). In these books, as opposed to her autobiographical debut, she focuses on several typical situations faced by women, generally her contemporaries, such as the ups and downs of relationships and the question of one’s moral responsibility to another, particularly when confronted with parenthood. These narratives revolve around the search for emotional footing in everyday situations and do not contain highly charged scenes and dramatically heightened fates. The author employs a linear, intentionally simple story to mark out the coveted ideal of finding harmony in one’s life. Emphasis is placed on one’s singular approach to life from a perspective of what is “eternal” in human destiny. After this pair of stylized women’s narratives, Boučková returned to mining autobiographical material with Krákorám (I’m Cawing), a volume of stories with a unified theme that satirically portrays the post-revolution period in the Czech Republic. In this book, her intention is to connect more general problems (especially the new crisis in social morals and the disappointment felt in post-revolution developments) to concrete situations in her own family, the relationship with her partner and the raising of her children. Notable is how she uses the changing lives of those nearest to her as an imaginary mirror to reflect the period’s lurid bad behavior, and this is viewed through the prism of the narrator’s disappointment. Boučková’s technique continues to be based on concrete description and character studies, and it has taken on a more distinct journalistic tone. This apparent departure from classical forms of narration reflects the growing distrust she has of the possibilities of traditional storytelling. But at the same time it has cropped up with greater regularity in her work as a journalist. A selection of her reportage from the end of the 20th century in which true to form she comments on current events by zeroing in on the woman’s point of view, or specific situations a women have encountered, was published under the ironic title Jen si tak trochu schnít (Keep the Decay at Bay).
In the year 2006 she won the First Prize for her script Zemský ráj to napohled (An Earthy Paradise of the Eyes To Behold). The script is already filmed and is directed by Irena Pavlásková (opening 17th of November 2009!) In 2007 was produced her stage adaptation of F.Fellini´s famous film La Strada. In 2008 she published the authobiografic novel Rok kohouta (The Year of Rooster), which became the bestseller of the year 2008/2009. Untill now are 50 000 copies sold.
(vn)
En français 
Tereza BOUČKOVÁ, En français.doc.doc
