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Contemporary Czech Prose

November 2014

november-2014-contemporary-czech-petra-herotova-something-is-not-working-here
Image: Petra Herotová, From the series "Something Is Not Working Here." Ink on Paper, 30 x 42 cm, 2012

Petra Herotová, From the series “Something Is Not Working Here.” Ink on Paper, 30 x 42 cm, 2012


This month we’re presenting Czech writing. Czech literature is underrepresented in translation, and its profile in English has been mainly political and largely male. The ten writers showcased here—men and women, ranging in age from thirty to seventy-four—demonstrate the richness and diversity of contemporary Czech writing. Magdaléna Platzová tells of love (and life) lost. Jan Balabán’s startled academic discovers a sister. Radka Denemarková depicts a young man with a unique obsession. In stories of families, Marek Šindelka shows a sporting outing turned deadly, and Tomáš Zmeškal tracks his estranged father in Congo; Petra Soukupová sees a family rocked by a devastating injury, and Petra Hůlová‘s Czech girl finds a “model” Communist town is anything but. Jiří Kratochvil shows a chess-playing boy realizing he’s a pawn in a terrorist cell; Jakuba Katalpa sends a German teacher to police a Czech town. And Martin Ryšavý transcribes the monologue of a theater director turned street-sweeper. We thank our guest editor, Alex Zucker, who provides an illuminating introduction as well as several translations.

Not Necessarily About Politics: Contemporary Czech Prose
By Alex Zucker
Authors writing in Czech have always had plenty to say.
This Time Last Year
By Magdaléna Platzová
The older you are, the less exposure you can tolerate.
Translated from Czech by Alex Zucker
Multilingual
from “Down, Beast!”
By Jiří Kratochvil
I even had erotic dreams in which the chess pieces lusted after each other.
Translated from Czech by Christopher Harwood
from “Disappear”
By Petra Soukupová
The leg I don’t have is what hurts.
Translated from Czech by Alex Zucker
from “Guardians of the Public Good”
By Petra Hůlová
Krakow in my childhood didn’t belong to anyone.
Translated from Czech by Alex Zucker
Bow and Arrow
By Marek Šindelka
We should’ve sorted it out when he was nine, when he hung the neighbor’s cat.
Translated from Czech by Michelle Woods
Multilingual
The Cherry Tree
By Jan Balabán
Of course I was named after Leonid Brezhnev!
Translated from Czech by Craig Cravens
Multilingual
from “Kobold”
By Radka Denemarková
He tries to cram St. John of Nepomuk into a shaggy fur coat.
Translated from Czech by Julia Sherwood & Peter Sherwood
from “Germans”
By Jakuba Katalpa
They were different from the Germans she knew in the Reich.
Translated from Czech by Michelle Woods
The Prodigal Father
By Tomáš Zmeškal
Myths always lie a little, to make them more impressive.
Translated from Czech by Alex Zucker
from “Talespinner”
By Martin Ryšavý
Bgashev’s been dead a few years now and he’s been coming to see me all this time.
Translated from Czech by Julia Sherwood & Alex Zucker