What a fun list, thank you! I was surprised by your choice of a cartoon - I’d have thought the iconic Václav Čtvrtek’s animations: Fumcajs the Gallant Robber (there is even a theme park in Jičin) or Křemílek and Vochomůrka, were popular in the Yugoslavia in the 70/80? They were in Poland. I think Poles generally slightly idolise Czechs (I don’t think they reciprocate😉), I’ve known quite a few who were fans of Czech cinema and wider culture. A contemporary journalist and writer Mariusz Szczygieł is the best example - he even moved there and I’m told his writing about Czechia/Czechs is very good - I don’t know if any of it, or his guide to Prague might be available in English. My dad’s favourite book was the Good Soldier Svejk. I’ve watched quite a few post 89’ films and would recommend Kolya. As for sexism - it was the same in Poland. Who even remembers Anna Walentynowicz, who was an activist alongside Wałęsa, not to mention she never became the president - he did.
Super useful tips. I've actually never heard of those animations, it doesn't seem they made it to national TV when I was growing up? I did see Kolya! It was good. Josef Skvoretsky actually moved to Toronto when he left Czechoslovakia and was embraced by the publishing world here, and had translators immediately--and I still I somehow missed his writing entirely. He's much less remembered here (though he is buried here) than in Czechia.
Jarchovsky and Hrebejk, the best of contemporary Czech cinema. Recommend their films Divided We Fall, Up and Down, Beauty in Trouble, Cosy Dens, Pupendo.
Watching Beauty in Trouble on Hoopla... The expat with money is just going to buy her, isn't he? There's something about Cz cinema that just doesn't agree with me--and the same goes with much of Yugo cinema. (The two are similar; some of the key YU filmmakers went to the Prague Film School.) Whereas the Romanian cinematography of the last three-four decades I get immediately. Maybe because it's more satirical, less bleak? LESS SEXIST than either the YU or CZ cinema? I can't fully explain it.
Yes, sexism is still pervasive in the Czech society, but the film reflects not only that. Up and Down is another film that observes vices of the modern Czech society well, in this case the all-pervasive racism. I highly recommend it.
If you want to chat I have a lot of music recommendations! I think you’ll be there during the Prague Spring Festival - there’ll be many great concerts. Imagine you have somewhere you’re staying already but this neighborhood is really lovely: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinohrady. Very central but outside the tourist craziness. Three opera houses, two major concert halls- the choices are endless. Funny little museums dedicated to Kafka and Communism… in terms of music a lot of tourist schlock you’re best to avoid. This area https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vy%C5%A1ehrad is really special, historic and again not overrun by tourists unlike the more famous castle area which you should see but be forewarned!
What a great post. I hope you have the best time. I had to reply when I saw your remarks about Kundera! He was one of my obsessions when I was about 20. I devoured all his books, and frankly I don't read much fiction. From there I went to Havel's essays, but I've never seen or read one of his plays. Do you know Joan Smith's 'Misogynies'? She has a whole chapter on Kundera as misogynist, and ... well ... it's hard to argue with her evidence. (For all the postmodern 'context'.) Joan Smith is great.
I do recommend The Joke, though. Far more politics than sex, and lots of very dark humour that resonates in our new puritanical age. For me, the shagging wasn't the reason I read him (there was always Nancy Friday if I wanted that!). It was more about the idea of sex as the last frontier that the communist state could not control. There's a line in '1984' about the Party neurologists who were working to abolish the orgasm. There's another line from Cohen (who could be amazingly sexist at times): 'there's gonna be a meter on your bed / that will disclose / what everybody knows'). Sexual promiscuity as political resistance, I guess. Another good read is Testaments Betrayed / Testaments Trahis. Not a novel, zero sex(ism) as far as I remember. A lovely chapter on Janacek and a defence of Stravinsky against Adorno. Also a section on Kafka, with a lot of ranting about fonts, missing haceks and other crimes. Turns out that MK was permanently at war with his editors over these things, even withdrawing one translation because he didn't like the typeface or something. Not an egotistical prima donna at all, then.
PS Zelenka is one of the most underrated composers ever, imo. The Sinfonia a 8 Concertanti in A minor (I may have the name slightly wrong, but it's definitely in A minor!) is a masterpiece. For me it's the seventh Brandenburg. Janacek: love the Glagolitic Mass but my favourites are the really intimate little pieces. 'From an overgrown path' is basically like playing through someone's diaries. I wish my playing was good enough to do justice to them. Now to listen to the piano reduction of Dvorak's Stabat. New to me. Thanks for a lovely, thought-inducing blog. So much nicer over here than Muskoville. Enjoy Prague.
Brilliant, thank you! I'm ALWAYS here for the defense of Stravinsky vs Adorno. Interesting argument about sex. I think they share that with the '68ers and the Sexual Revolution/hippies/gay lib. We thought that if we liberate desire, remove obstacles to sex, we'll be less fascists and less authoritarian in general. Alas.
I hope you have a great time in Czechia! Anna Tuckett is right: Poles generally think Czechs are cooler than us, while Czechs don't pay us much attention, I don't think.
As for Kundera, I'm intrigued by what you wrote. I read The Unberable Lightness twice in my twenties, hating it both times because of all the cheating, and not getting what others saw in the book. Twenty years later I decided to pick it up again, and this time it landed differently. The cheating was still awful, but I now saw it as correlative to repressive communist politics. Sexual betrayal now made the betrayed and betraying society in the novel even more legible and menacing to me.
In The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, the sexual and political don't really mesh for me. There's some gross sex stuff (to me), I get a sense of Kundera as a deeply insecure man when I read it (fairly or unfairly). But I love this book because of the political insights and passages of absolutely stunning prose about memory, Prague, literature, the hypnotic quality of mass ideological commitment.
What a fun list, thank you! I was surprised by your choice of a cartoon - I’d have thought the iconic Václav Čtvrtek’s animations: Fumcajs the Gallant Robber (there is even a theme park in Jičin) or Křemílek and Vochomůrka, were popular in the Yugoslavia in the 70/80? They were in Poland. I think Poles generally slightly idolise Czechs (I don’t think they reciprocate😉), I’ve known quite a few who were fans of Czech cinema and wider culture. A contemporary journalist and writer Mariusz Szczygieł is the best example - he even moved there and I’m told his writing about Czechia/Czechs is very good - I don’t know if any of it, or his guide to Prague might be available in English. My dad’s favourite book was the Good Soldier Svejk. I’ve watched quite a few post 89’ films and would recommend Kolya. As for sexism - it was the same in Poland. Who even remembers Anna Walentynowicz, who was an activist alongside Wałęsa, not to mention she never became the president - he did.
Super useful tips. I've actually never heard of those animations, it doesn't seem they made it to national TV when I was growing up? I did see Kolya! It was good. Josef Skvoretsky actually moved to Toronto when he left Czechoslovakia and was embraced by the publishing world here, and had translators immediately--and I still I somehow missed his writing entirely. He's much less remembered here (though he is buried here) than in Czechia.
Rumcajs, not Fumcajs, sorry. And forgot to wish you a nice trip - hope you have a great time!
Jarchovsky and Hrebejk, the best of contemporary Czech cinema. Recommend their films Divided We Fall, Up and Down, Beauty in Trouble, Cosy Dens, Pupendo.
Watching Beauty in Trouble on Hoopla... The expat with money is just going to buy her, isn't he? There's something about Cz cinema that just doesn't agree with me--and the same goes with much of Yugo cinema. (The two are similar; some of the key YU filmmakers went to the Prague Film School.) Whereas the Romanian cinematography of the last three-four decades I get immediately. Maybe because it's more satirical, less bleak? LESS SEXIST than either the YU or CZ cinema? I can't fully explain it.
Yes, sexism is still pervasive in the Czech society, but the film reflects not only that. Up and Down is another film that observes vices of the modern Czech society well, in this case the all-pervasive racism. I highly recommend it.
Up and Down was interesting!
If you want to chat I have a lot of music recommendations! I think you’ll be there during the Prague Spring Festival - there’ll be many great concerts. Imagine you have somewhere you’re staying already but this neighborhood is really lovely: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinohrady. Very central but outside the tourist craziness. Three opera houses, two major concert halls- the choices are endless. Funny little museums dedicated to Kafka and Communism… in terms of music a lot of tourist schlock you’re best to avoid. This area https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vy%C5%A1ehrad is really special, historic and again not overrun by tourists unlike the more famous castle area which you should see but be forewarned!
What a great post. I hope you have the best time. I had to reply when I saw your remarks about Kundera! He was one of my obsessions when I was about 20. I devoured all his books, and frankly I don't read much fiction. From there I went to Havel's essays, but I've never seen or read one of his plays. Do you know Joan Smith's 'Misogynies'? She has a whole chapter on Kundera as misogynist, and ... well ... it's hard to argue with her evidence. (For all the postmodern 'context'.) Joan Smith is great.
I do recommend The Joke, though. Far more politics than sex, and lots of very dark humour that resonates in our new puritanical age. For me, the shagging wasn't the reason I read him (there was always Nancy Friday if I wanted that!). It was more about the idea of sex as the last frontier that the communist state could not control. There's a line in '1984' about the Party neurologists who were working to abolish the orgasm. There's another line from Cohen (who could be amazingly sexist at times): 'there's gonna be a meter on your bed / that will disclose / what everybody knows'). Sexual promiscuity as political resistance, I guess. Another good read is Testaments Betrayed / Testaments Trahis. Not a novel, zero sex(ism) as far as I remember. A lovely chapter on Janacek and a defence of Stravinsky against Adorno. Also a section on Kafka, with a lot of ranting about fonts, missing haceks and other crimes. Turns out that MK was permanently at war with his editors over these things, even withdrawing one translation because he didn't like the typeface or something. Not an egotistical prima donna at all, then.
PS Zelenka is one of the most underrated composers ever, imo. The Sinfonia a 8 Concertanti in A minor (I may have the name slightly wrong, but it's definitely in A minor!) is a masterpiece. For me it's the seventh Brandenburg. Janacek: love the Glagolitic Mass but my favourites are the really intimate little pieces. 'From an overgrown path' is basically like playing through someone's diaries. I wish my playing was good enough to do justice to them. Now to listen to the piano reduction of Dvorak's Stabat. New to me. Thanks for a lovely, thought-inducing blog. So much nicer over here than Muskoville. Enjoy Prague.
Brilliant, thank you! I'm ALWAYS here for the defense of Stravinsky vs Adorno. Interesting argument about sex. I think they share that with the '68ers and the Sexual Revolution/hippies/gay lib. We thought that if we liberate desire, remove obstacles to sex, we'll be less fascists and less authoritarian in general. Alas.
I hope you have a great time in Czechia! Anna Tuckett is right: Poles generally think Czechs are cooler than us, while Czechs don't pay us much attention, I don't think.
As for Kundera, I'm intrigued by what you wrote. I read The Unberable Lightness twice in my twenties, hating it both times because of all the cheating, and not getting what others saw in the book. Twenty years later I decided to pick it up again, and this time it landed differently. The cheating was still awful, but I now saw it as correlative to repressive communist politics. Sexual betrayal now made the betrayed and betraying society in the novel even more legible and menacing to me.
In The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, the sexual and political don't really mesh for me. There's some gross sex stuff (to me), I get a sense of Kundera as a deeply insecure man when I read it (fairly or unfairly). But I love this book because of the political insights and passages of absolutely stunning prose about memory, Prague, literature, the hypnotic quality of mass ideological commitment.