Czech Literature

Reading the local literature before you go is a good way to get a greater understanding of a
destination. This excerpt from Lonely Planets guide to Czech & Slovak Republics takes you
through the highlights.
Its with some validity that most people think of Czech writers as dark,
mystical, otherworldly, philosophical and obsessed with sex. Oppression and the legacy of
history have long been Czech literary themes. Yet, in the late 19th century, romantic views
of traditional Slav life predominated.
One of the nations most beloved novels is Boena Nmcovs Babika (Grandmother), a
story of village life involving a grandmother who comes to live with her daughter
and grandchildren. Czech history was a source of inspiration for world-renowned poet and
essayist Jan Neruda, whose short stories in Povidky Malostransk (Tales of the Mal Strana)
are a satirical look at Pragues bourgeois in 1878.
After WWI, Jaroslav Haek devoted himself to mocking the Hapsburg Empire and its
minions; itinerant and impoverished, he wrote The Good Soldier vejk, a rambling,
hysterical study of a Czech soldier during WWI (its laugh out loud in public places kind of
stuff). In the years between the two World Wars, Karel apek was probably the best-known
Czech author; his science fiction works include Rossums Universal Robots. Though he wrote
in German, Franz Kafka, with a circle of other German speaking Jewish writers in Prague,
played a major role in the literary scene at the beginning of the 20th century. The
hopelessness and sense of the absurd that pervade his writing have come to help
define existentialism. Kafka only published short stories during his lifetime; his novels were
incomplete when he died and were arranged by a friend, Max Brod, afterwards. You
probably know his novella, Metamorphosis, in which a man turns into a bug, but
other works include The Trial, In the Penal Colony and Amerika.
A 1960s liberalisation of communist censorship encouraged a brief literary flowering. The
main topic for writers such as Milan Kundera (The Joke, 1967) was communist
oppression. Bohumil Hrabal wrote down-to-earth novels about the everyday life of people,
as in Oste sledovan vlaky (Closely Watched Trains, 1965), about coming of age
during WWII. After the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968, some writers fled. Kundera
became hugely successful in France with the 1984 publication of The Unbearable
Lightness of Being, which was also made into a movie. Others stayed and wrote for the
samizdat (underground) press, as did playwright Vclav Havel.
Most recently, there hasnt been a whole lot of Czech literature translated into
English. Jchym Topol, a rock-music lyricist from a dissident family, won several awards for
his novel, Sestra (translated as City, Sister, Silver, 2000). The book is a dark and
complicated romp through post-communist Prague. Michal Viewegh is one of the Czech
Republics most influential contemporary writers. Vchova dvek v echch (Bringing Up
Girls in Bohemia, 1994) is a satirical look at teen angst and a great snapshot of modern life
in Prague. More recent works include Bjen rok (Wonderful Year, 2006) and Romn pro
mue (Mens Novel, 2008).