Czech literature is in trouble / Ceska literatura je v ryzi

The Czech literature is in trouble. Especially the current novels. The writer Jiri Kratochvil made a very good observation when he wrote “after a long, long time the Czech literature is not only free but also turns its back on any kind of ideology, mission and service to the nation”. When the Czech magazine Tyden had its “The Best Book of the Century” contest in 1998 the only current novel that had placed in the first 50 places was Sestra (Sister) by Jachym Topol – it won the 26th place. Lidove Noviny announced their “Book of the Year” list in 1991 with following 5 novels placed among the winners:

• Nesmrtelnost (Immortality) by Milan Kundera
• Klic je pod rohozkou (The key is under the rug) by Vlastimil Tresnak
• Pestre vrstvy (Colorful layers) by Ivan Landsman
• Pamet moji babicce (Memory to my grandmother) by Petra Hulova
• Klokat dehet (Swirl ??) by Jaychym Topol

How about the critics? Could they have just overseen the really good novels? On the oposite! The one tendency is for the critics to overly praise books that – when finally read by the average reader – end up being not so great after all. The second default that critics fall into is their extreme criticism and negativity; no book seems to please them. The Lidove noviny article explains the current grim situation a little more: ” after the Velvet Revolution in 1989 (with all of the world literature available to the Czech readers) the interest in Czech literature started to diminish”. The literature critic Jiri Travnicek further clarifies by saying that ” the novel-writing in the Czech Republic was born quite late, it really only started with Karolina Svetla. But to say that we don’t feel comfortable with that ganre is not true. We have had quite a lot of accomplishments in Czech novel writing, like the all-time classics, The Good Soldier Svejk, which shows that we are not just the nation of poets”.
Then show us what you got, Czech writers!!

CZ: Ceska literatura proziva v soucasnosti jakousi krizi, a to zejmena soucasna romanova tvorba. Prozaik Jiri Kratochvil to vystihl dobre kdyz napsal: “po dlouhem case je opet ceska literatura nejen svobodna,ale take opovrhuje vsemi ideologiemi, poslanim a sluzbam narodu ci komu”. V Ankete casopisu Tyden o ceskou knihu stoleti v roce 1998 se v prvni padesatce umistila pouze Sestra od Jachyma Topola (26. misto). v ankete knihy roku LN (1991) se mezi vitezi umistilo pet romanu:

• Nesmrtelnost (Milan Kundera)
• Klic je pod rohozkou (Vlatimil Tresnak)
• Pestre vrstvy (Ivan Landsman)
• Pamet moji babicce (Petra Hulova)
• Kloktat dehet (Jachym Topol)

Tak co se tedy deje? Myslite, ze kritici ty vyborne romany treba prehlidli? To prave naopak. Jedna tendence je, ze vynasi urcite romany primo do nebe, coz vetsinou naprosto mine samotne zklamane ctenare a na milou knihu se za kratky cas zapomene. Druhy pristup kritiku je je dalsi extrem – nikdo je nemuze potesit. Lidove noviny to ale vystihly vyborne:” Je ale rovnez treba zminit, ze po listopadu 1989 v dusledku novych moznosti zacal zajem o ceskou literaturu upadat. Literarni kritik Jiri Travnicek uzavira toto tema s myslenkou: “Roman se zrodil v ceske literature hodne pozde, vlastne zacina az s Karolinou Svetlou, ale ze by nam nebyl vlastni, to si nemyslim. Je dost velkych vykonu na ceskem romanovem poli – jako je Svejk – ktere svedci o tom, ze nejsme jen narodem lyriku”.

http://www.lidovky.cz/aspon-ze-mame-toho-svejka-0he-/ln_kultura.asp?c=A080515_083929_ln_kultura_mtr