Czech Update

Fables and Understories: Čapek on the Web

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:46:17 -0500

Andrew Malcovsky, the self-described 'Slavicist on spec' (I wonder if this is a conscious bilingual pun for špek) found a great new way to exploit the medium of the blog. For translating Karel Čapek's famous whimsical short pieces Bajky a podpovídky (as Fables and understories). It's certainly a great services to the student of Czech culture. read more »

New resource for Czech exile literature online

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:08:47 -0500

A complete text (all in Czech) of a book survey of Czech exile literature between 1971 and 1989 was made available by the author on the University of Glasgow's Slavonic Studies Department website. read more »

Kafka in Czech complete

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 21:27:05 -0400

Was he or wasn't he? read more »

Dictionary of Czech culture

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:56:48 -0400

The Amazon reviewer got it right! read more »

Take the Czech quiz!

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:53:51 -0500

Tiscali Europa It's not all beer and the Vltava you know... Ten countries in Central Europe and the Mediterranean joined the European Union in 2004 - how well do you know them? Can you tell a Becherovka from a Jan Huss? Or a Škoda from a Schroeder? Try your luck with our great photo quizzes... but make a mistake and you get sent back to the beginning!

Tiscali Europe has provided this fun quiz on what is important to know about the Czech Republic. They hit many of the major points (although they read more »

Doomsday 2010 Prague Short Story Wins BCSA Prize

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:33:35 -0500

Mayor Šulc’s Astounding 2010 Directive is the title of a short story that has just won a prize of £300 in a writing competition run by the British Czech & Slovak Association. The author is Adam Daniel Mezei.

The story set in a Prague in 2010, which secedes from a Czechia which is controlled by a Communist revisionist government, and which in turn is part of an imperial Euro superstate. It explores the extraordinary consequences of political changes in the far from distant future – where Language Police patrol restaurants, and where Prague (Mayor Šulc’s ‘Inner District’) resorts to a helicopter airlift to take passengers to the airport to avoid the random searches and hefty tolls imposed by the Communist authorities. It’s one of several stories Adam submitted to the competition that tackle rather different, often unsettling subjects. (From BCSA Press Release) read more »

Translating the Czech Golden Age

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:42:13 -0500

The Prague Post Online: Tempo: Translating the Czech Golden Age
"The years of the First Republic, 1918-1938, were the golden years of Czech culture, particularly in literature," translator Mark Corner says over coffee at the French Institute's café. "It's the Čapek Age, though many of the writers were never translated for English audiences. The double blow of the Nazis and the communists saw to that."

There are many names associated with this period from Čapek to Seifert (one of two Czechs to have received the Nobel prize). read more »

Magor book of 2006

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 21:40:49 -0500

www.lidovky.cz - Kniha roku 2006
Dvacet čtyři hlasů pro Magorovy dopisy je proto úspěch nesporný. Jejich autorovi Ivanu M. Jirousovi můžeme blahopřát i k tomu, že se od obnovení ankety LN v roce 1991 stává prvním, kdo pomyslný titul Kniha roku získává podruhé (v roce 1998 za Magorovu summu).

Magor, an underground generation poet and celebrated crazy man, beat Kundera in the annual Book of the Year poll conducted by Lidové Noviny. His book of letters he wrote from prison in the 70s and 80s gave him a unique second win since 1991. Havel's interview came in fourth place. read more »

"I served the king of England" in cinemas

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 13:49:46 -0500

Film, který vznikal dvacet let - www.lidovky.cz Film Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále je spojen s řadou očekávání: po dvanácti letech se jím vrátil za kameru režisér Jiří Menzel, který bývá označován za specialistu na Hrabala, jeho předlohy natáčel šestkrát, za Ostře sledované vlaky získal v roce 1968 Oscara. Okolnosti vzniku Anglického krále byly navíc velmi komplikované, takřka dvacet let trval spor o autorská práva na Hrabalovu knihu. Jiří Menzel začal Anglického krále točit letos v březnu v produkci AQS, koproducentem snímku s nadstandardním rozpočtem 84,5 milionu korun je televize Nova, Magic Box Slovakia, Barrandov Studios a UPP. read more »

Unbearable Lightness of Being in Czech after 20 Years

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:28:05 -0500

Kundera masterpiece becomes Czech bestseller after 20 year wait
Czech writer Milan Kundera's most famous novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" has become a best seller in his homeland after a 20-year wait for its general release in his native language.

Yes, it is true, Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí, perhaps the best-known book written in Czech, was published for the first time in the Czech Republic this year more than 20 years after its original publication in France. read more »

Write for the BCSA 2006 prize

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 08:33:01 -0400

Fact or fiction – both are welcome in the writing competition run in 2006 by the British Czech and Slovak Association. A first prize of £300 and a second prize of £100 will be awarded to the best 1,500 to 2,000-word pieces of original writing in English on the links between Britain and the Czech/Slovak Republics, or describing society in transition in the Republics since 1989. Topics can include history, politics, the sciences, economics, the arts or literature.

The writer of this year's winning entry will be presented with the prize at the BCSA’s annual dinner in London in November 2006. The piece will be published in the December 2006 issue of the British Czech and Slovak Review. read more »

Václav Havel releases first book in 15 years

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 04 May 2006 13:41:45 -0400

Vaclav Havel releases first book in 15 years
Prague - Opening day at a Prague book fair Thursday was the occasion for release of the first book in 15 years by former Czech president and communist dissident Vaclav Havel.'Prosím Stručně' (Briefly, Please) is being called by its publisher 'a literary collage' based on diary entries, letters and conversations with Czech writer Karel Hvizdala, who collaborated with Havel.
...
The 1986 book 'Dalkovy Vyslech' (Long-distance Questioning) [to which this book is a sequel] was released in English in 1990, after Havel helped lead the bloodless overthrow of communism known as the Velvet Revolution. The English edition was renamed Disturbing the Peace and won international acclaim. read more »

Writers Škvorecký, Salivarová awarded for spreading Czech name

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 06:34:41 -0400

Writers Skvorecky, Salivarova awarded for spreading Czech name - Prague Daily Monitor
Writers Josef Skvorecky and Zdena Salivarova were awarded with the price Gratias Agit for their spreading the good name of the Czech Republic abroad by Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda last night.

Along with their own creation, Skvorecky and Salivarova, who married in the 1960s and left Czechoslovakia after its 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion, devoted their efforts to the publication of Czech literature when in exile in Canada. read more »

Twisted Spoon publish Máj: Seminal work of Czech 'revival' in new English translation

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 06:53:31 -0500

Twisted Spoon Press, the Prague-based publisher of quality Czech and Central European literature in English translation came out with one of the key works of Czech national revival, Karel Hynek Mácha's 1836 Romantic epic poem Máj. Please support Twisted Spoon and CzechUpdate by buying the new translation on Amazon.

This is the first published English translation in over 50 years. The Czech original with an older translation by Edith Pargeter is available online on http://www.lupomesky.cz/maj. read more »