Book of the Week: The Prague Tales of a Famous Czech Novelist

First: About the Author: Zdanek Svilak, a famous Czech screenwriter, actor, lyricist and novelist. Oscar for Best Foreign Language Screenwriter, one of the "Greatest Czechs". Born in Prague in 1936, he graduated from Charles University in Prague with a degree in Language and Literature. He has worked as a secondary school teacher, radio editor, freelance writer, etc. At the age of 72, he published his first collection of novels, which topped the Czech book bestseller list. On average, one in every 20 people in the Czech Republic is his reader. His works have been translated into English, Russian, Japanese and other languages and published in many countries around the world.

Second: Brief introduction of awards: In 1987, the screenwriting work "My Sweet Home" won the 59th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film (nominated) In 1992, the screenplay and starring work "Qingqing School Tree" won the 64th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film (nominated). In 1996, the screenplay and starring work "Give Me a Dad" won the Best Film and Best Screenplay in the main competition section of the 9th Tokyo International Film Festival. In 1997, the screenwriting and starring work "Give Me a Dad" won the 69th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2005, he was elected one of the 30 "Greatest Czechs" voted by Czech television viewers. In 2008, the screenwriting and starring work "Prague Etude" won the Golden Lion Award for Czech Cinema. In 2011, he won the Golden Lion Award for Czech Cinema and the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2012, the collection of novels "Missed Love" won the "Reader Award" of Czech Magnesium Literature. In 2014, the novel "Barefoot" won the "Reader's Award" for Czech magnesium literature. In 2014, he won the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Outstanding Contribution Award. In 2018, the screenwriter's work "Barefoot" won the Temple of Heaven Award (nominated) at the 8th Beijing International Film Festival.

Third: The "Prague Story Collection" series of works was launched for the first time Chinese edition, including "Female Audience", "Missed Love", "Qingqing School Tree" and "Prague Etudes" in four volumes, including 19 of the writer's most important short and medium stories and 4 classic film stories such as "Give Me a Dad" and "Prague Etudes", writing about the laughter and tears of Czechs for seventy years, which can be called "the glory of Prague, the feast of the Czechs".

Sverak is good at capturing materials from ordinary life, using humorous eyes to tease imperfect life, but also a master of playing with language, its intriguing narrative, exquisite natural text, appropriate expression, and the finishing touch that appears at the end of the story, giving people a sense of amazement, so that the reader can't help but float a smile on his face.

Fourth: "Female Audience" contains 10 short stories. Including "Tracking", "Court Letter", "Titshev", "Female Audience", "Ruslan and Ludmila", "Lenin's Smile", "Vltava River", "Temporary Substitute", "Liar", "Photographer". The protagonists of these stories include a single father who lives in distress, a derailed truck driver, an old gentleman who has been dumped by his girlfriend and become deaf, an old lady with rich emotional experience, a woman who can perform special functions, and a liar who has been sentenced to prison several times.

For example, "Tracking" writes about a single father who is shy in his pocket, wearing a wet raincoat to various bars on a sunny day, creating the illusion that it is pouring heavy rain outside, in order to help the boss retain customers, so as to exchange for a free meal. "Letter from the Court" writes that a driver was told that the court was looking for him, he suspected that his lover had sued him in court, had to confess to his wife, and went to the court, only to find that it was a big oolong. In "Titshev", the young man is abandoned by his girlfriend and kills himself, resulting in deafness, speaking like a bell, and after decades of karma, he scares the ex-girlfriend he meets because he speaks loudly and is injured... They are ordinary people in this city, and the problems, difficulties, and embarrassments and confusions encountered by these people will also give readers a sense of déjà vu, which may actually befall anyone.

Fifth: "Missed Love" is an Oscar-winning best foreign language film screenwriter and Czech literary master short story master Svillak, following the release of the first collection of novels "Female Audience" at the age of 72, another brand new work. Immediately after publication, it topped the best-seller list and won the Czech heavyweight award Magnesium Literature "Reader Award" in 2012. Every time Svillak launched a book, it caused a reading frenzy in the Czech Republic, with more than a million copies sold, and almost one in every 20 Czechs was his reader.

"Missed Love" includes nine stories: "The Light of Bethlehem", "Class Party", "Missed Love", "Double Vision", "Spa Sanatorium", "Shopping", "Decent Taxi Driver", "On the Train", and "April Story". The protagonists of these stories include the mentally handicapped son, the old gentleman with blepsopia, the girlfriend who is wrongly loved, the decent taxi driver, the couple who argues all day, the patient who always suffers on the same day of the year, and so on. Still ordinary people in Prague, still a story that makes people laugh until they can't stop, or laugh and laugh and shed tears. These stories take place not only in Prague, but also in every corner of the world, in the lives of everyone.

Missed Love is the second in Svrac's "Prague Tales" series. These works are translated smoothly and read like food, and we are deeply impressed by the author's talent, behind the author's quiet description, there is a pair of sympathetic eyes shining with a friendly light.

Sixth: "Youth Proofreading" is the third part of the "Prague Stories Collection" series. This book includes two novels, "The Green School Tree" and "Barefoot", both of which have been filmed. Among them, the film of the same name, "Qingqing School Tree", won the 64th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film (nominated), written and starred by the writer himself. The film of the same name, Barefoot(also translated as "Barefoot"), won the Temple of Heaven Award (nominated) at the 8th Beijing International Film Festival and was written by the writer himself. "The School Tree" is a story embedded in a narrow gap in time — the Second World War has just ended, and everything seems to open its arms to the arrival of the era of freedom. No one could have imagined that, after only a brief period of three years, another form of unfreedom would bury all hope.

"Barefoot" is about the years before "The Young School Tree", the period when the Czech Republic was occupied by Nazi Germany and renamed. The shy little boy, Ida Suchek, followed his parents to the countryside, where he lived and learned to walk barefoot.

Seventh: "Prague Etudes" is the fourth in the series of "Prague Stories" by Oscar-winning screenwriter and Czech master of the short story Zdanek Svillak. The book includes two of Svilak's novels, Kolja (Give Me a Dad) and Vratné lahve (Prague Etudes). The film based on "Give Me a Dad" won the Best Film and Best Screenplay in the main competition section of the 9th Tokyo International Film Festival in 1996, and the Best Foreign Language Film at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997; the film based on "Prague Etudes" won the Czech Film Golden Lion Award for Best Director and Best Cinematography in 2008.