Povidky

This collection brings together authors of different generations, styles and backgrounds. Some, like Daniela Hodrova, Alexandra Berkova and Kvita Legatova struggled under the communist regime's censorship, others - Lenka Reinerova and Vira Stiborova for instance - recall life before it. The younger generation, represented by Magdalena Platzova and Kateoina Rudeenkova among others, tackle life after the 1989 'Velvet Revolution'. For the first time in an anthology of translated Czech literature, this book also features two short stories written by Czech Roma. Tera Fabianova remembers her first years at school just before World War II, when she was the only Roma child in a Czech classroom. Erika Olahova weaves fantasy into her poignant tale of an ostracised Roma woman mistreated by the men of her village. A lyrical, mysterious tour through Prague mixes history with legend and everyday reality. A child's philosophical reflections on the Christian concept of sinfulness lead him to resolve to sin 'just a little bit'. A witty style informs stories of drunken men bantering over interminable card games, teenage girls smoking in school toilets, and a woman whose salvation comes in the unexpected form of pickled men's buttocks. Writers explore the drama of marital and extra-marital relationships, mother-daughter conflicts, and child abuse, set in the rough terrain of a Moravian mountain village, in the deprived Sudetenland, and in an unnamed smoky bar. These Czech women express their multiple perspectives on social and intimate issues with sometimes biting, sometimes gentle, insight into human nature.