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Czech BooksDickens and the Good Soldier Švejk
Here is a question for the Dickens bicentenary. What is the connection
between the great 19th century English novelist and the best-loved Czech
literary anti-hero? The answer is, surprisingly enough, that without
Dickens we quite possibly wouldn’t have Švejk at all. David Vaughan
looks at this and some other Czech links with Dickens in this week’s
Czech Books. More
Current AffairsCreator of world-famous Krtek (Little Mole) dies at 90
The Czech illustrator and animator Zdeněk Miler has died at the age of 90.
The artist was best known for the creation of Krtek (or Little Mole), a
cartoon character loved by generations of Czech children that first
appeared in the 1950s. Earlier in 2011, a plush toy of the animated
character even went to space on one of the last space shuttle flights. More
SpotlightA tale of two restaurants
Hrabal’s book "I served the King of England" makes working in a
restaurant sound very dramatic, and very glamorous. But the novel also
suggests that such drama and glamour belong to a time now long gone. To
find out whether this was true, I visited two of Prague’s most famous
restaurants, to talk to their owners about their work from day-to-day. More
Czech HistoryJosef Lada – landscape painter and Švejk illustrator
As one art critic once said, the paintings of Josef Lada accompany Czechs
from cradle to grave. He is as well known for his illustrations of fairy
tales and children’s readers as he is for his landscapes, which each
Christmas are printed thousands of times over on the front of the
nation’s Christmas cards. Lada was also the artist who gave the grinning,
rotund Good Soldier Švejk his form. More
Czech HistoryThe world renowned writer and ‘folk hero’ Jaroslav Hašek
The Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek is best known today for his hilarious
anti-war novel The Good Soldier Švejk. Hašek’s own biography, however,
is perhaps just as farcical and action-packed as his most famous book. In
this edition of Czech History, we look at the life and times of this world
renowned author. More
Current AffairsGiant leap for mole-kind as Czech cartoon character joins space shuttle crew
A legendary Czech is going into space on a forthcoming shuttle flight.
Although a veteran of such cosmic adventures, as well as many others, this
crew member might raise some eyebrows ― he’s the world recognised
cartoon character, the mole, sometimes known as the little Mole or
Krteček. We look at a giant step for mole-kind. More
Current AffairsFirst part of Czech classic The Good Soldier Švejk published 90 years ago
It has been 90 years since the publication of the first part of, Jaroslav
Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk. The four-part novel (which Hašek
failed to complete before his death at 40) introduced his good-natured
protagonist famously reacting to the assassination of the archduke in
Sarajevo in 1914. He asks his charwoman “Which Ferdinand, Mrs Muller? I
know two...”, oblivious to the gravity of developments. The novel has
long since been recognised as a satirical masterpiece, and has been
translated into more than 50 languages. More
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