Authors

Although the astonishing versatile writer Ivan Klíma is definitely among the most widely known, most frequently translated (and in terms of radio drama, definitely the most frequently performed) Czech literary figures of the present day, his key works are most likely those composed in the two decades between 1965 and 1985. During this time – even though banned from publication after 1969 and blacklisted by the Communist regime – he completed his most important psychological novels, the testimony of his generation, along with several volumes of short stories which analyse, with great subtlety, the erotic and emotional relations of pairs of lovers at various stages of life. He garnered great critical acclaim, for instance, with his 1964 prose triptych Milenci na jednu noc [Lovers for One Night], while what clearly stands as his greatest work on political themes is his novel on the moral dilemmas facing the generation of the Prague Spring: published under the title Soudce z milosti [Eng. Judge on Trial, tr. Paul Wilson, 1994], it was distributed in samizdat as Stojí, stojí šibenička [There Stands a Little Gallows]. Somewhat overshadowed by Klíma’s prose writings (as well as his dramas) from the twenty years of “dissidence” – equally deserving of mention is the novel Love and Garbage (Láska a smetí), first published by a British exile press in 1988, which achieved unusual popularity among even the wide public – are his literary works published during the past fifteen years. Indeed, a few critics have hypothesised that the central focus of Klíma’s writing has gradually shifted to the essay and journalism (e.g. the collection of his witty columns for the daily paper Lidové noviny, published in book form under the title Kruh nepřátel českého jazyka [The Club of Enemies of the Czech Language]). In the current Dictionary of Czech Writers , the entry for Ivan Klíma touches upon his post-1989 writings only in the lapidary observation that “from Klíma’s work in the 1990s, attention has been gained by his novel Poslední stupeň důvěrnosti [The Final Degree of Confidentiality]” – the internal psychological drama, set at the present time, of a Protestant minister unhappily in love. In addition to the erotic problematics, the novel also presents a subtle reflection of the ethical relations and questions in contemporary Czech society. Even greater psychological intimacy, particularly with regard to the female sense of love and family, is the no less readable novel Ani svatí, ani andělé [Neither Saints nor Angels]. Rather unjustly overlooked by Czech readers and even critics is the political novel that Klíma completed in the 1980s - Čekání na tmu, čekání na světlo [Eng. Waiting for Darkness, Waiting for Light], inspired partially by the historic figure of the Communist leader Gustáv Husák, partially by several actual occurrences from the years before 1989. Another of Klíma’s most recent books is a prose variation of his radio play “The Minister and the Angel” (occasionally translated as “The President and the Angel”): the political satire Premiér a anděl [The Prime Minister and the Angel]. The central plot complication of the story consists in a politician succumbing to the illusion that one of his advisors is a true angel, a purely heavenly being, and consequently begins to behave in all his actions according to this unbelievable fact. Subtle caricatures of Humoristická drobnokresba českých pořádků se zde snoubí se snahou o nadčasovější, výrazně nadregionální výpověď. Třebaže je děj prošpikován bezútěšnými satirickými výpady na adresu všemocných mafií a především mnohohlavé hydry či mnohochapadlové chobotnice tuzemských velkokorupčníků, je příznačné, že v čele zrovna tohoto státního útvaru paradoxně – anebo naopak logicky – stojí bývalý vysokoškolský pedagog, do roku 1989 smýšlející a vystupující převážně apoliticky. Aby také ne: Vždyť jeho původní profesí je loutkoherectví. I když měl Ivan Klíma analogickou tvůrčí zkušenost například s dramatickými satirami na současné pořádky, žánr aktuální politické satiry si v této próze vyzkoušel poprvé. Skutečným hrdinou jeho knihy je malost českých poměrů – a jeden ambiciózní ministr vnitra, který se po vzoru mnoha jiných mladých ministrů vnitra v dějinách dere k moci s uplatněním všech možností, které má jím ovládané vnitro k dispozici a které nejsou vůbec andělské. (vn) Bibliografie: Markétin zvěřinec, Albatros, Praha 1990 Hry, Dilia, Praha 1991 Už se blíží meče, Rozmluvy, Praha 1991 Ostrov mrtvých králů, Rozmluvy, Praha 1992 Čekání na tmu, čekání na světlo, Atlantis, Brno 1993 Milostné rozhovory, Hynek, Praha 1995 Jak daleko je slunce, Hynek, Praha 1995 Poslední stupeň důvěrnosti, Hynek, Praha 1996 Kruh nepřátel českého jazyka, Hynek, Praha 1998 Ani svatí, ani andělé, Hynek, Praha 1999 Láska a smetí, Hynek, Praha 1999 Velký věk chce mít též velké mordy, Academia, Praha 2001 Premiér a anděl, Academia, Praha 2003 Moje nebezpečné výlety, Academia, Praha 2004

Deutsch Ivan KLÍMA, Deutsch.doc

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