Roman Ráž

Roman Ráž

Prose writer and scriptwriter for radio, television and film. His books have been published in Polish, German and Romanian. He was born in Prague on 28 May 1935.


Title Publisher Year Selected published translations Awards
Spa Hopes (Lázeňské naděje) Akropolis 2015
Adventures at a Spa (Lázeňské dobrodružství) Akropolis 2014
One Doesn’t Murder in the Canteen (V jídelně se nevraždí) Akropolis 2011
Don´t Believe a Word I Say (Nevěř mi ani slovo) Praha: Akropolis 2009
Stone in the Window (Kámen v okně) Akropolis, Praha 2007
Bonviván (Bonviván) Academia 2004
Faust Dies Twice (Faust umírá dvakrát) Akropolis 2003
The Solitude of the Rescuers (Zachránci samoty) Academia 1999
A Journey on Your Hands and Knees (Cesta po kolenou) Favia International 1993
Temptation at the End of Summer (Pokušení na konci léta) Práce 1989
In flagranti Melantrich 1989
The Narcissus House (Narcisový dům) Československý spisovatel 1988
The Shock Master (Šokmistr) Československý spisovatel 1985
The Sparrow´s Nest (Vrabčí hnízdo) Československý spisovatel 1983
Erratic Stones (Bludné kameny) Československý spisovatel 1981
Death in the Chestnut House (Smrt v kaštanovém domě) Blok 1976
Cognitive Sign (Poznávací znamení) Blok 1974
Who Silenced Matyáš (Kdo umlčel Matyáše) Blok 1968
One Time You Will Look Back (Jednou se ohlédneš) Blok 1968
The Birdsong Teacher (Učitel ptačího zpěvu) Blok 1966
One Night (Jediná noc) Krajské nakladatelství 1962
Spa Hopes
Lázeňské naděje
Adventures at a Spa
Lázeňské dobrodružství
V jídelně se nevraždí
One Doesn’t Murder in the Canteen
V jídelně se nevraždí
Nevěř mi ani slovo
Don´t Believe a Word I Say
Nevěř mi ani slovo
Kámen v okně
Stone in the Window
Kámen v okně
Bonviván
Bonviván
Bonviván
Faust umírá dvakrát
Faust Dies Twice
Faust umírá dvakrát
Zachránci samoty
The Solitude of the Rescuers
Zachránci samoty
Cesta po kolenou
Roman Ráž
A Journey on Your Hands and Knees
Cesta po kolenou
Pokušení na konci léta
Temptation at the End of Summer
Pokušení na konci léta
In flagranti
In flagranti
Narcisový dům
The Narcissus House
Narcisový dům
Šokmistr
The Shock Master
Šokmistr
Vrabčí hnízdo
The Sparrow´s Nest
Vrabčí hnízdo
Bludné kameny
Erratic Stones
Bludné kameny
Smrt v kaštanovém domě
Death in the Chestnut House
Smrt v kaštanovém domě
Poznávací znamení
Cognitive Sign
Poznávací znamení
Kdo umlčel Matyáše
Who Silenced Matyáš
Kdo umlčel Matyáše
Jednou se ohlédneš
Roman Ráž
One Time You Will Look Back
Jednou se ohlédneš
Učitel ptačího zpěvu
Roman Ráž
The Birdsong Teacher
Učitel ptačího zpěvu
Jediná noc
Roman Ráž
One Night
Jediná noc
Praise
Ráž has convincingly used excerpts from the grandmother’s soul-searching chapters from the part-authentic, part-fabricated notes, diary entries and narration of nearly all of the main characters. The author also gives over the impression that it is entirely up to the reader to judge where and when our ancestors went wrong in their ideas and actions. In fact the author’s sympathy, where he places friendship and consistency above all else, emanates unmistakably clearly from the novel.
—Milan Blahynka
obrys-kmen.cz

He graduated in aesthetics and film studies and worked as a script editor and writer for Czechoslovak television and radio. He signed the “2000 Words” manifesto, a call for reform of the Communist Party in 1968, after which he was sacked and became a freelance writer.

Since the sixties he has been writing novellas, short stories, poems and feuilletons. His debut work was the short-story collection Jediná noc (One Night, Krajské nakladatelství Brno, 1962), which was followed by Učitel ptačího zpěvu (The Birdsong Teacher, KNB, 1965), Jednou se ohlédneš (One Time You Will Look Back, KNB, 1968) and Kdo umlčel Matyáše (Who Silenced Matyáš, KNB, 1968), all of them psychological stories about people who contemplate some degree of compromise in various situations on the margins of life.

Smrt v kaštanovém domě (Death in the Chestnut House, Blok, 1976) depicts the cowardice and pettiness of several inhabitants of a small town who have driven a man to murder and are incapable of taking responsibility for their actions. The novel Prodavač humoru (The Seller of Humour, Československý spisovatel, 1979) inspired the director Jiří Krejčík to make a film about the tribulations of variety-show recruiter Jožin Petránek. The novel Bludné kameny (Stray Rocks, Čs. spisovatel, 1981) recounts the fates of three brothers from a cottage in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands; the novel’s title comes from a motif of the book – a meeting during the blasting of stray rocks on land which used to belong to the cottage owners. The book Vrabčí hnízdo (The Sparrow’s Nest, Čs. spisovatel, 1983) comes from the environment of film and television studios, which Ráž is intimately familiar with and used here as the setting for the story of a ruthless careerist. The story of the main character from the book Šokmistr (The Shock Master, Čs. spisovatel, 1985) also revolves around a loafer who exploits the name of his famous father.

Narcisový dům (The Daffodil House, Čs. spisovatel, 1988) was again made into a televised version; it tells the psychologically charged story of the life of two generations in a house which is at first sight invitingly sunlit and surrounded with daffodils.

This was followed by the tragicomic novel about infidelity In flagranti (Čs. spisovatel, 1989), made into a film in 1993, the story of a former operetta singer Pokušení na konci léta (Temptation at the End of Summer, Práce, 1989) and the novel from woodland solitude and from the practice of a country doctor Zachránci samoty (The Solitude of the Rescuers, Academia, 1999). Bonviván (Bon Vivant, Academia, 2004) describes the life of an ageing actor and dancer. This was followed by an overpopulated farce about the vagaries of everyday life, Nevěř mi ani slovo (Don’t Believe a Word I Say, Akropolis, 2009), and a farce on the theme of murder, V jídelně se nevraždí (One Doesn’t Murder in the Canteen, Akropolis, 2001).

Roman Ráž’s most recent large-scale literary project is the historical fresco Lázeňské dobrodružství (Adventures at a Spa) and Lázeňské naděje (Spa Hopes, Akropolis, 2014 and 2015); against the backdrop of the dramas of one family, it depicts the First and then the Second World War and life in Czechoslovakia in the run-up to the communist victory in the elections of 1946.

Ráž is also the author of the radio plays Smyčka (Loop), Ruce nad vodou (Hands Above Water) and Faust umírá dvakrát (Faust Dies Twice, collectively by Dillia, 1968).

Foreign rights
Prague Literary Agency
W: http://www.praglit.de/
E: maria@sileny.de