7 Contemporary Czech Novels Everyone Should Read
Czech literature has a rich tradition of questioning introspection that reaches back more than a century, to Franz Kafka’s existentialism, Karel Čapek’s sci-fi, and Jaroslav Hašek’s satire. Once the Soviets quashed the Prague Spring in 1968, however, Czechoslovakia’s authors were unable to freely publish fiction that could be perceived as critical of the regime. Many of them left for the West, but their writing remained focused on the land they left behind. After the Velvet Revolution, a flurry of novels finally saw widespread release, and three decades of capitalism have only shifted, rather than eliminated, the targets of critique. Here are seven novels by Czech authors published since 1989 that incisively, creatively, and memorably parse Czech society. Too Loud a Solitude (1989) Written by Bohumil Hrabal and translated by Michael Henry Heim “Not until we’re totally crushed do we show what we are made of.” For 35 years, Hrabal’s defiant narrator Haňtá has worked underground, recycling waste paper with his hydraulic press. He is not content, however, to simply crush bales for the paper mill, and instead crafts what he sees as works of art, homages to the written word. Haňtá also rescues books from the heaps he recycles, delivering...
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