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ArtsReflections of modern Czech history in Simon Mawer’s ‘The Glass Room’
A Czech architectural landmark has provided the backdrop, and indeed
central theme, for a book which has been creating a stir in the literary
world. The Glass Room by Simon Mawer tells the story of a modernist villa
in a Czech town, from conception to construction, eventually to seizure by
the state. The Glass Room has been receiving a great deal of publicity ever
since it was nominated for the prestigious Man Booker Prize. Over the phone
from his home in Italy, author Simon Mawer voiced his bewilderment as to
why his book was proving so popular in Britain at the moment: More
Czech BooksSimon Mawer talks about The Glass Room
One of the most acclaimed books to be published in the last couple of years
is the Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel, The Glass Room, by the British
writer, Simon Mawer. It is a book with more than a passing relevance to the
Czech Republic, as the hero is a building that stands to this day on the
edge of the city of Brno.
More
Czech BooksCzech history through a glass darkly
Hello and welcome to Czech Books. This week we're discussing the novel The
Glass Room, by Simon Mawer, one of this year's nominations for the
prestigious Man Booker prize. The novel, which has already been translated
into Czech and had a very positive local reception, is inspired by the
functionalist masterpiece, the Tugendhat Villa in Brno, and covers over
half a century of Czech history, focusing mainly on the fates of the Jewish
industrialist Victor Landauer and his wife Liesel. I met with a professor
of English Literature at Charles University's Education Faculty, Dr. Anna
Grmelová, to discuss in particular the book's depiction of the rich and
diverse cultural life of the First Czechoslovak Republic.
More
ArtsReflections of modern Czech history in Simon Mawer’s ‘The Glass Room’
A Czech architectural landmark has provided the backdrop, and indeed
central theme, for a book which has been creating a stir in the literary
world. The Glass Room by Simon Mawer tells the story of a modernist villa
in a Czech town, from conception to construction, eventually to seizure by
the state. The Glass Room has been receiving a great deal of publicity
ever
since it was nominated for the prestigious Man Booker Prize. Over the
phone
from his home in Italy, author Simon Mawer voiced his bewilderment as to
why his book was proving so popular in Britain at the moment: More
Current AffairsBrno city hall makes U-turn in Tugendhat villa case
It was a U-turn that few had expected. Less than two months after Brno city
hall decided to return the UNESCO-listed villa Tugendhat to the
descendants
of its pre-WWII Jewish owners, the city authority changed its mind. The
original plan was to transfer the functionalist structure to the state
which is legally entitled to handle the returns of property confiscated by
the Nazis. After the state rejected this procedure, Brno city hall
revised its previous decision. More
Current AffairsBrno City Hall protests as valuable Tugendhat Villa statue is sold to foreign collector
A statue by Wilhelm Lehmbruck, which used to stand in the functionalist
Tugendhat Villa in the Moravian capital of Brno, was sold to an anonymous
bidder for one million pounds on Monday. The "Torso of a Walking
Woman" was auctioned off at Sotheby's. But the decision to sell the
art in London is now influencing decision-making in the Czech Republic,
where Brno city councillors fear the Tugendhat Villa would face a similar
fate if it were returned to its original owners.
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