Section Archive Czech Books
Brass 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
Ewald Osers: “a certain talent for languages”
Last month we heard the sad news of the death of Ewald Osers at his home in
England at the age of 94. Born in Prague at a time when it was still part
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Osers was an outstanding linguist and a
brilliant translator. Over the decades he translated dozens of Czech
writers and poets into English, and was equally well known for his
translations from German. David Vaughan looks back at a fascinating life. More
John Banville: claiming Kafka as an Irish writer
A few days ago the Booker Prize winning Irish writer John Banville was in
Prague, to receive one of Europe’s most coveted literary awards, the
Franz Kafka Prize. David Vaughan took the opportunity to talk to the writer
about his work and his fascination with the cultural and literary world of
Central Europe. More
Robert Fulghum’s tango for one in Prague
The best-selling American writer Robert Fulghum has such an enthusiastic
following in the Czech Republic that he has published several of his books
here in Czech translation before they have even appeared at home. That
includes his latest book, “If You Love Me Still, Will You Love Me
Moving?” Its subtitle “Tales from the Century Ballroom” hints at its
theme – that most passionate of ballroom dances, tango. Last week Robert
Fulghum was in Prague to promote the book, and found time to pay a visit to
the radio. David Vaughan met him. More
Rabindranath Tagore: an Indian poet who inspired a Czech generation
This year is the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Bengali poet,
Rabindranath Tagore, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1913. Tagore has a special significance for Czechs, as we
find out in this week’s Czech Books. More
Edith Pargeter: an English novelist in Prague
This week would have been the 98th birthday of Edith Pargeter, an English
writer who translated many of the Czech classics. You may well have come
across her under the penname Ellis Peters that she adopted for much of her
fiction. Under this alias she created two of the most famous fictional
detectives in twentieth century crime writing, Sergeant George Felse, and
the medieval monastic sleuth Brother Cadfael. In Czech Books this week,
David Vaughan explores Edith Pargeter’s special relationship to
Czechoslovakia. More
A Prague poet “infinitely better known than Shakespeare”
In Czech Books this week we find out about the life and times of an
English-born Renaissance poet who spent nearly all her life in Prague and
in her time was more celebrated than Shakespeare. David Vaughan has been
exploring the life and work of “Westonia”.
More
“If I had been a boy, I would have been shot…” Part 9
We have reached the ninth and final part of our serialized reading of “If
I had been a boy, I would have been shot…” by Jaroslava Skleničková.
The war is over, and Jaroslava’s account takes us from the traumas of her
return to the present day, and her life with her husband Mirek in the new
Lidice. But first, David Vaughan sums up the story so far. More
“If I had been a boy, I would have been shot…” Part 8
In the last few weeks Veronika Hyks has been reading from the memoirs of
Jaroslava Skleničková, an extraordinary story of survival in war. We have
now reached May 1945. After nearly three years in Ravensbrück, the women
of Lidice are now free, although they still face the trauma of returning
home to find that the village has been wiped off the map and that all their
menfolk and nearly all their children are dead. David Vaughan introduces
the eighth episode. More
“If I had been a boy, I would have been shot…” Part 7
Over the last few weeks, the actress Veronika Hyks has been bringing us
extracts from Jaroslava Skleničková’s memoirs, “If I had been a boy,
I would have been shot…”. The book tells the moving story of how
Jaroslava was sent with the other women from her home village of Lidice to
the Ravensbrück concentration camp near Berlin, after the Nazis razed the
entire village to the ground in June 1942. The men of the village were shot
in cold blood, and nearly all the children were gassed in Poland, but
throughout their stay in Ravensbrück, the women had no idea of their fate.
As the end of the war drew close, Jaroslava, together with her mother and
sister, were marched out of the camp, together with hundreds of other
women. David Vaughan brings the story up to date. More
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