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Czech BooksBrass bands, beer and a famous boulevard: Czech links with Mexico
In this programme we go south of the border, to explore some intriguing
Czech literary and other cultural links with Mexico, stretching right back
to the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bernie Higgins begins by
recounting an extraordinary episode from the mid 19th century. More
Czech BooksLenka Reinerová: a café with many tables
Few writers are more closely identified with Prague than Lenka Reinerová,
who died last month at the age of 92. Although in the course of an
adventurous life she travelled the world, she loved above all to write
about her home city, and with her death Prague has lost one of its most
important literary witnesses. In Czech Books this week, we remember Lenka
Reinerová and her literary legacy.
More
Current AffairsAn era ends with the death of Prague writer Lenka Reinerová
Prague has lost one of its best-known and best-loved literary figures. The
writer Lenka Reinerová died on Friday at the age of 92. Her novels and
stories, which drew richly from her adventurous life, were written in her
native German, and she was often described as Prague’s last German
writer. Lenka Reinerová was one of few surviving witnesses of the rich
German speaking literary world of Prague between the wars, and she knew
many of its best known figures, including Max Brod and the famous
„roving
reporter“, Egon Erwin Kisch. David Vaughan looks back at her life. More
SpecialSir Nicholas Winton and the human cost of "peace for our time".
It was 69 years ago this week, just after midnight on the night from 29th
to 30th September 1938, that the British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain, his French counterpart, Edouard Daladier, Hitler and
Mussolini, signed the Munich Agreement. It is now remembered as the most
notorious symbol of Chamberlain's tragically flawed policy of appeasement.
The "piece of paper" which he waved on his return to Heston
Aerodrome, just west of London, was to be a guarantee of "peace for
our time", and Czechoslovakia was the price that was to be paid, as
the four most powerful men in Europe agreed to allow Nazi Germany to annex
a large part of the country. The next day, German troops marched unopposed
into the Sudetenland, the mainly German-speaking border regions of
Czechoslovakia.
More
Czech BooksLenka Reinerova: reviving Prague's German literary legacy
In recent years Lenka Reinerova has acquired almost legendary status as
Prague's last living writer in the German language. Her novels, stories
and essays, many of which are strongly autobiographical, are widely read
both in Germany and the Czech Republic. She is currently at the centre of
a fascinating literary project. Prague has always been a city of two
languages, Czech and German, but after the trauma of World War Two, the
German language disappeared almost completely. A huge literary tradition
was lost, in which Prague's most famous literary son, Franz Kafka, had
been just the tip of the iceberg.
More
Czech BooksBrass bands, beer and a famous boulevard: Czech links with Mexico
In this programme we go south of the border, to explore some intriguing
Czech literary and other cultural links with Mexico, stretching right back
to the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bernie Higgins begins by
recounting an extraordinary episode from the mid 19th century. More
Women in War"Here's looking at you kid...": a Czech girl in wartime Casablanca
If the film Casablanca had not been fiction, perhaps Sam would have played
"As Time Goes By" for the Prague-born writer Lenka Reinerova. In
1941 she was one of many thousands of refugees who found themselves trapped
in the Moroccan port as they tried to escape occupied Europe for the New
World. Lenka Reinerova was born 88 years ago into a German-speaking Prague
Jewish family.
More
ArtsThe melancholic genius of Alen Divis
Prague Rudolfinum Galery last week opened an exhibition of a very
remarkable, though almost unknown Czech artist - Alen Divis. He is a
significant artistic figure from the first half of 20th century, who was
researched very little up until today. The exhibition at the Rudolfinum
presents his work for the first time, and gives an overview of his life. More
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