A raw, yet tender narrative about the 1990s, squats, street fights against racism and hope from the perspective of a left-wing subculture.

In this documentary novel, Radek Wollmann returns to the late 1990s, a period that many people today attach vague labels to or reduce to the mere political transformation of the country. Such simplifications are quickly given short shrift in this book. We are given a view of the streets where gangs of neo-Nazi skinheads roam and violence is their way of maintaining a semblance of order in a world slipping away from them. Attacks, harassment and murders form the backdrop to the everyday life into which leftwing subculture steps—not as romanticized outsiders, but as a group learning to respond by using similar methods. Wollmann portrays demonstrations, concerts, and squats not as heroic chapters of subcultural mythology, but as a brutal struggle to secure a place to live and forge an identity in a period offering few stable points of reference. The book links the violence and ideals of that era with contemporary issues: anti-Romany bigotry, the search for authenticity and questions of integrity. In place of nostalgia, memories of the postrevolutionary fervour are laid bare.

This disturbing debut by the young screenwriter is an original analysis of a society ignoring its impending doom.

When the novel opens with a mysterious globe arriving to Earth from outer space, it could easily just be another sci-fi story. However, Klára Vlasáková avoids genre stereotypes and describes a society through resigned, apathetic figures who remain lifeless, becoming ever more blind and affected by the unknown sphere, the presence of which is left entirely unexplained. The gloomy but fast-paced psychological narrative could be a metaphor for a dehumanized society which has been transformed into a lifeless machine. A stylistically convincing novel which forces the reader to think.

]]> https://www.czechlit.cz/en/book/praskliny-en/feed/ 0 https://www.czechlit.cz/en/book/kar-en/ https://www.czechlit.cz/en/book/kar-en/#comments Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:09:59 +0000 CzechLit https://www.czechlit.cz/book/ ...a detail the police overlooked: at each crime scene somebody has left a photograph of a seemingly dead girl covered with false tattoos…... ]]>

A gripping, suspenseful and terrifying murder mystery.

Karlovy Vary, better known abroad as Carlsbad, is a beautiful and somewhat sleepy real spa in western Bohemia, located on a river flowing through a picturesque valley. Something nasty, however, happened a couple of months ago and now it has occurred again: a visitor to the town has been viciously bitten by another tourist who committed suicide shortly afterwards. Both cases are similar, but neither the perpetrators nor the victims had anything to do with each other, they were complete strangers. A sense of terror looms over the cool colonnades and hot springs as guests begin to cancel their reservations, threatening to bankrupt the whole town. The deputy commander of the city police writes to Julian Uridil, his former friend from school, now a famous mystery writer living in Prague, and begs him to come back to his hometown and help solve the crimes that are so similar to those in his books. Julian arrives in Karlovy Vary and discovers a detail the police overlooked: at each crime scene somebody has left a photograph of a seemingly dead girl covered with false tattoos…

What is human and what is now inhuman? An inventory of the most important things that still make us human.

What is humanity and what is it founded upon? The uncompromising, dark descent into the most rank recesses of the human psyche in the collection Inventory does not show the reader the bright side of the planet’s intelligent inhabitants: the inventory of our existence works out very unfavourably for the poor accountant. Here humanity and its future is given up as a lost cause. Hearts are eaten alive, the word darling has a strangely repulsive ring to it, children live off human flesh, and relationships are consumed in a similar manner – each verse is dedicated to monstrosity and perversion. Despite all of this, at the very end of the collection the tiniest of spaces remains for love. The language of the poetry is just as earthy – there is nothing pretty about it. Prettiness is left up to the reader.

Ondřej Štindl’s best novel to date takes place in Prague during the pandemic and was nominated for the 2023 EU Prize for Literature.

An aging writer and translator, the novel’s protagonist Kryštof abruptly finds himself at a crossroads when he meets the young leftist intellectual Kristýna, and not long afterwards Kamil, a guru with a strange connection to Kryštof’s deceased sister. The emerging pandemic is changing life as he knows it, making the possibility of the world’s end more real than ever—in fact, Kryštof might be headed towards a “personal apocalypse”, plagued by melancholy, the grotesque, intrusive memories and dark forebodings. He becomes a hesitant actor in what is either a story of great revelation or a cruel cosmic joke. Or a love story.

A tragicomedy about a young woman looking for her place in the world and finding refuge in an old cupboard in the middle of a town.

While living abroad, a young sculptor has to contend with an unhappy relationship and the unexplained death of her partner. Returning to her own country is difficult, not least because of her personal crisis: she has no reason to live or even a place to live. However, there is an old cupboard that her respectable sister has left in the courtyard to be thrown out. Having run out of other options, she moves into it. The metaphor of a longed-for place in the world culminates as her uncomfortable dwelling in the courtyard starts leaking badly. Many things can be blocked out, but not constriction at home or within yourself. The rich and lively use of language and the sense of the absurd, drama and farce, coupled with a strong command of narration, guarantee a high-quality read. This tragicomic story has unexpected depths.

In this tense novel, a woman who doesn’t know her place in life goes in search of the person who poisoned an eagle.

Veronika Bálková’s debut novel is almost like a detective story. The narrator, thirty-three-year-old Kateřina, lives with her grandmother in a village and one day comes across a poisoned eagle while walking her dog. As she has nothing else to do except take her dog for walks, she decides to investigate, and the relationships within the village gradually begin to unravel. In the process she has to contend with her own difficult relationships – with her mother, with a divorcee vet, and with her grandmother. Gradually, we uncover the background of this seemingly rootless woman. We discover why she wanders around with her dog all day long, why she doesn’t have to work, the experiences she went through in the past, and how these have left their mark on her. The sensitive approach to the transitional phase in life, which the protagonist has found herself in, is the book’s greatest strength. In addition, it is communicated to the reader in an engaging, attractive, and exciting way. All of this makes Bálková’s first book a compelling and thought-provoking novel, which is hard to put down.

The story of a teenager coming to terms with a serious handicap, from a series of books about children who are different.

What is it like for a fifteen-year-old boy when in one fateful moment the rug is pulled from under his feet? The analogy would make Benjamin, the hero of Ivona Březinová’s novel, laugh bitterly, since an amputation has left him with phantom pains in place of legs. A schoolboy rivalry to win the favour of a girl ended in a serious ski injury, and so he faces a difficult journey from the initial resignation and fits of rage to an acceptance of reality. With the support of friends, family and health professionals, he discovers his potential in a painful process but with determination and even goes back to his beloved sport. The book’s title only becomes clear in the last chapter, which expands the educational dimension of this unsentimentally presented story. On the fictional level, the website it refers to contains reports about Ben’s sporting successes, while in reality it presents the activities of the Emil Foundation, which supports young disabled athletes. The dynamic typography with illustrations by Jakub Troják indicates that despite the hero’s handicap, reading this novel written in the natural language of today’s teenagers will be a lively ride.

Most things in the world have a rational explanation, but what if that was by chance? This collection of seven short stories contains plots which are often unbelievable and fantastic, though anchored within everyday reality.

A mysterious metal object fished from a fountain reveals to Kryštof an image of humanity’s future. Lada and Milada go out on a nocturnal adventure with pictures they have painted and which have come to life, while Jenda miraculously finds his toy monkey that had been lost for months. The protagonists of these stories written by the dramaturge and director, Lucie Ferenzová, are children looking at the world from a unique perspective. Although all of the stories in the collection end up having a rational explanation, we are left with the feeling we have encountered something magical long after each story has ended. The author thus impressively captures how a child’s imagination works, which is further complemented by Petra Waldauf Slabá’s original illustrations.

Age: 5+

In six allegorical short stories, the author employs various folklore literary genres – from legend and fable to arabesque – to depict the problems of today.

Once upon a time… The Virgin Mary died in Warsaw. Poachers slit the bellies of grouse. Masquerade boots were made from lion paws. Persian gates were closed to caravans. The Full Moon lent to hares so that they could buy furs. The magician Rye crowed over Prague. The Death of Old Masha presents the reader with romantic illusion. Thomas the Apostle warns at the outset: “Truth is a story hidden behind legend.” “The book is ultimately an experiment and a play with genre. It is an attempt to talk about the present as though it happened long ago and has left behind only a remnant of myth. Or perhaps it’s the other way around: an attempt to find a remnant of myth in the present,” says Vratislav Maňák.