Archive: Culture | Literature Literature
New collection "reunites" author Jaroslav Hasek with illustrator Josef Lada
"The Good Soldier Svejk and His Fortunes in the World War" is the
episodic tale of a Czech soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army whose own
apparent stupidity is used to critique the absurdities of war. Translated
into 60 languages, it is perhaps the best known Czech work of fiction of
all time. Now, over 80 years after its publication, its author Jaroslav
Hasek and illustrator Josef Lada have been reunited in a new collection.
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"Den poezie" - a rich annual celebration of poetry in the Czech Republic
This month sees two literary anniversaries connected with the great Czech
romantic poet, Karel Hynek Macha, who was born 195 years ago this month
and died in November 1836, just 26 years later. So we'll start with the
opening lines of his very well known lyrical epic of love and death Maj
[May]:
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American author Rober Fulghum arrives in Czech Republic to promote second volume of his novel
The American writer Robert Fulghum, the author of such bestsellers as
"All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" and
"It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It" enjoys huge popularity
among Czech readers and his books always rank very high on the list of
bestsellers in this country. Robert Fulghum is now in the Czech Republic,
promoting the Czech translation of the second part of his novel
"Third Wish" - which is described by the Czech editor as a
"pentalogy in three volumes".
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Hindi writer, translator of Czech modern writers, Nirmal Verma passes away
The Indian writer Nirmal Verma, who died in New Delhi on Tuesday at the age
of 75, was considered one of India's best fiction writers but he was also a
translator from Czech into Hindi. He introduced such writers as Karel
Capek, Josef Skvorecky, Milan Kundera and Bohumil Hrabal to Indian
readers.
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Prague offers preservation expertise to Hurricane-stricken New Orleans
As we reported on Tuesday, restoration work is still going on in order to
repair the damage caused by the massive floods in the summer of 2002 in
various archives around Prague. Because the memory is so fresh and
conservation experts in the Czech Republic have gathered a lot of
experience over the past three years, the Prague City Council has offered
to send a team of Czech experts to New Orleans to help the city restore
its historic heritage damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
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"Ostravak" blog reaches cult status as third book published
Last week saw the publication of a third compilation of entries from the
"Ostravak" Internet blog - an online diary and chat forum
written entirely in the Ostrava dialect of North Moravia. The first two
books spent months on the publishing top ten, and the third is set to
follow.
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Edgar de Bruin: An agent for Czech authors in Holland, on the hard sell of small markets
Dutchman Edgar de Bruin first came to Czechoslovakia in the late 1970s to
play basketball. That high school excursion led to university studies in
Prague and developed into a life-long interest in Czech culture -
especially in the literature. Mr de Bruin, a translator of Czech works
since the Velvet Revolution, is now a literary agent; his agency Pluh
("plough") - represents nearly a dozen Czech authors, selling
their rights to Dutch and other mainly European publishers. I caught up
with him in an Amsterdam café for a frank discussion about the book trade.
I began by asking him about his student days. More
A good translation is a clean windshield: the linguistic acrobatics of Viktor Janis
What makes a good translation? Are there books that are untranslatable?
These are just two of the questions that we discuss in Czech Books this
week with Viktor Janis, a leading young literary translator.
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Overdue: Libraries open a new chapter in public relations
Exhibitions, author readings and book signings, free Internet and a general
amnesty on late fees for patrons with overdue books - yes, it's Libraries
Week once again in the Czech Republic. More
John Connolly - on crime writing and his latest novel The Black Angel - partly set in the Czech Rep
John Connolly is the bestselling author of Nocturnes - a collection of
macabre short stories, and the Charlie Parker novels that have
successfully blended mystery with the supernatural. Over five books -
beginning with Every Dead Thing - Connolly's main character, private eye
Charlie Parker, has found himself in some pretty sticky situations. In
Connolly's latest, The Black Angel, the character even visits the Czech
Republic to learn more about the origins of a famous bone chapel. The
author, who is Irish, spent a great deal of time in this country, coming
back many times over the years. When I met John here recently the first
thing I asked him about was Prague. More
