Most literature in the Czech Republic is now written in Czech, but historically, a considerable part of Czech literary output was written in other languages as well, including Latin and German.
Bohemia was Christianized in the late 9th to 10th centuries, and the earliest written works associated with the kingdom of Bohemia are Middle Latin works written in the 12th to 13th centuries (with the exception of the Latin Legend of Christian, supposedly of the 10th century but of dubious authenticity). The majority of works from this period are chronicles and hagiographies. Bohemian hagiographies focus exclusively on Bohemian saints (Sts. Ludmila, Wenceslas, Procopius, Cyril and Methodius, and Adalbert), although numerous legends about Bohemian saints were also written by foreign authors. The most important chronicle of the period is the Chronica Boemorum (Bohemian Chronicle) by Cosmas, though it does approach its topics with then-contemporary politics in mind, and attempts to legitimize the ruling dynasty. Cosmas' work was updated and extended by several authors in the latter part of the 12th and during the 13th centuries.
During the first part of the 13th century, the Přemyslid rulers of Bohemia expanded their political and economic influence westward and came into contact with the political and cultural kingdoms of Western Europe. This cultural exchange was evident in literature through the introduction of German courtly poetry, or Minnesang, in the latter part of the 13th century. After the murder of Wenceslas III and the subsequent upheavals in the kingdom in 1306, however, the Bohemian nobles distanced themselves from German culture and looked for literature in their native language. Despite this, German remained an important literary language in Bohemia until the 19th century. This new literature in Czech consisted largely of epic poetry of two types: the legend and the knightly epic, both based on apocryphal tales from the Bible, as well as hagiographic legends of earlier periods. Prose was also first developed during this period: administrative and instructional texts, which necessitated the development of a more extensive and specialized vocabulary; the first Czech-Latin dictionaries date from this time. Extensive chronicles, of which the Chronicle of Dalimil and Chronicon Aulae Regiae (the Zbraslav Chronicle) are the most striking examples, and artistic prose (e.g. Smil Flaška z Pardubic and Johannes von Saaz) were also written.
The Hussite revolution of the 15th century created a definite break in the literary evolution of Czech literature and forms its own separate history within Czech literature. The main aim of this literature was to communicate and argue for a specific religious doctrine and its form was generally prose. Jan Hus theological writing first appears at the beginning of the 15th century; he wrote first in Latin, later in Czech, and this divide remained for much of the later period: poetry and intellectual prose used primarily Latin, whereas popular prose was written in Czech or German. Hus writings center on technical, theological questions; however, he did publish a set of his Czech sermons and created rules of orthography and grammar that would be used to create the foundations of modern Czech in the 17th and 18th centuries. Only fragments remain of the literary works of the radical Taborite faction – these were generally Latin apologia defending the Taborite doctrine (Mikuláš Biskupec z Pelhřimova, Petr Chelčický[why?]). In general, Hussite writings differed from the preceding era by their focus on social questions – their audience consisted of the lower and lower middle classes. Works defending Catholicism and attacking the Hussite utraquists were also written, one example being Jan Rokycana's works. The Hussite period also developed the genre of Czech religious songs as a replacement for Latin hymns and liturgy, e.g. the Jistebnický kancionál, the Jistebnice Hymnal.
After the election of George of Poděbrady to the Czech throne following the Hussite wars, a new cultural wave swept into Bohemia. Humanism saw in the classics of antiquity an ideal for literature and culture. The main feature of the literature of this period is the competition between Catholics writing in Latin, e.g. Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic and Jan Dubravius) and Protestants writing in Czech, e.g. Viktorin Kornel of Všehrdy and Václav Hájek. New literary devices incited scholars, e.g. Veleslavín, to construct a more complex grammatical structure, based on Latin, as well as an influx of loan words. Gutenberg's printing press rendered books and pamphlets more accessible, which slowly changed literature's status in society.
The demise of the Czech Protestants after the Battle of the White Mountain decidedly affected Czech literary development. The forceful re-Catholicization and Germanization of Bohemia and the ensuing confiscations and expulsions virtually eliminated the Protestant middle classes and split the literature into two parts: the domestic Catholic and the émigré Protestant branches. Unlike in other European countries of the time, the nobility in Bohemia was not a part of the literary audience and thus this split of literary effort led to a certain lack of development and stagnation of Czech baroque literature in comparison to other European countries of the time, especially in genres that were written for noble courts. The largest personality of Czech evangelical baroque writing is John Comenius, who spent his youth in Bohemia but was forced into exile later in life. He was a pedagogue, theologian, reformer of education, and philosopher; his works include grammars, theoretical tracts on education, and works on theology. With his death in the late 17th century, Protestant literature in Czech virtually disappeared. Catholic baroque works span two types: religious poetry such as that of Adam Michna z Otradovic, Fridrich Bridel and Václav Jan Rosa, and religious prose writings (i.e. homiletic prose and hagiographies), and historical accounts (Bohuslav Balbín), as well as the Jesuit St. Wenceslas Bible.
At the end of the 18th century, the Bohemian lands underwent a considerable change – the Habsburg emperor Josef II put an end to the feudal system and supported a new religious and ideological tolerance. Enlightened classicism emerged, which sought to apply the principles of rational science to all aspects of daily life. A national culture and literature in one's own national language began to be seen as a prerequisite for the unification of a nation. In literature, this constituted a renewed interest in prose novels (e.g. Václav Matěj Kramerius), in Czech history and in the historical development of Czech culture (e.g. Josef Dobrovský, who re-codified the grammar of Czech and Antonín Jaroslav Puchmayer, who systematically set out to develop a Czech poetic style). The literary audience evolved from priests and monks to the laity and general public and literature began to be seen as a vehicle of artistic expression. Bohemia and Moravia, however, remained within the sphere of Austrian and German cultural influence. The new national literature thus firstly mimicked popular German genres and would only later evolve into an independent creative effort; this was especially true for drama, e.g. Václav Kliment Klicpera.
19th century
Pre-romanticism formed the transition between enlightened classicism and romanticism – the pre-romantics did not completely abandon the emphasis on poetic forms drawn from antiquity, but relaxed the strict separation between the genres and turned away from didactic genres toward more lyric, folk-inspired works (e.g. Ján Kollár and František Čelakovský.) It was during this period that the idea of a truly national literature and culture developed, as a rejection of Bernard Bolzano's vision of a bi-lingual and bi-cultural Czech-German state. The perhaps greatest figure of this era is Josef Jungmann, who translated many classics of world literature and spent his life establishing Czech literature as a serious, rich literature capable of great development. František Palacký and Pavel Jozef Šafárik took up the challenge of reexamining Czech history. As part of the effort to establish a pedigree for Czech literature and culture, Czech historians of the time sought evidence of heroic epics of the Middle Ages. They appeared to find such evidence in the Rukopis královédvorský and Rukopis zelenohorský (the Dvůr Králové Manuscript and the Zelená Hora Manuscript, respectively), although both were later proven forgeries.
By the 1830s, the foundations of Czech literature were laid and authors now began to focus more on the artistic merits of their work and less on developing the idea of Czech literature and culture as a whole. During this time period two main types of literature were produced: Biedermeier literature, which strove to educate the readers and encourage them to be loyal to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (e.g. Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová), and romanticism, which emphasized the freedom of the individual and focused on subjectivity and the subconscious (e.g. Karel Hynek Mácha, Václav Bolemír Nebeský.) These authors were generally published in either newspapers or in the literary magazine Květy (Blossoms) published by Josef Kajetán Tyl.
The year 1848 brought to the fore a new generation of Czech authors who followed in the footsteps of Mácha, and published their work in the new almanac Máj (May) (e.g. Vítězslav Hálek, Karolina Světlá and Jan Neruda). These authors rejected the narrow ideal of a purely national culture and favored one that incorporated Czech literature into European culture and drew inspiration from the progress made outside of the Czech lands. Their work, however, also commented on the encroachment of industrialization and focused increasingly on the simple life as opposed to the unfettered romantic ideal.
The May generation was followed by the neo-romantics, who continued in the romantic tradition, but also incorporated more contemporary styles: realism, Symbolism, and decadence. Three periods are apparent: the first reacted to the disappointment due to the lack of political and social progress during the 1870s (e.g. Václav Šolc); the second was the great return to poetry, especially epic poetry (e.g. Josef Václav Sládek); and the third focused on prose (e.g. Alois Jirásek).
In conversation with the neo-romantics, the next generation of authors leaned toward realism and naturalism, the ordinary and banal. They favored contemporary subjects over historical ones, and sought to deemphasize the personal voice of the author in comparison to the often highly colored speech of the characters. Two main topics were of interest: the exploration of the Czech village and the extent to which it remained an oasis of good morals (Jan Herben, Karel Václav Rais, Alois Mrštík); and Prague, especially the life of the lower classes (Ignát Herrman, Karel Matěj Čapek Chod).
The last literary generation of the 19th century signaled a decided break with the past and the advent of modernism – after the wave of optimism in the wake of the French Revolution at the beginning of the century, the lack of progress in implementing these ideals of freedom and brotherhood led to both a skepticism toward the possibility of ever achieving these ideals, and renewed efforts to do so. The common link between authors of this generation is their adherence to a particular style over their own voices, and their often very critical perspectives on the work of the previous generations. The modernists also inaugurated the cult of the artist, and this period saw the birth of the literary critic as an independent profession, as an ally of the artist, helping to both define and present work to the public (František Xaver Šalda). Notable poets of this period drew on the works and translations of the poet Jaroslav Vrchlický and include, among others, Josef Svatopluk Machar, Antonín Sova, Otokar Březina, and Karel Hlaváček); prose authors include Vilém Mrštík, Růžena Svobodová, and Josef Karel Šlejhar.
The turn of the 20th century marked a profound shift in Czech literature — after nearly a century of work, literature finally freed itself from the confines of needing to educate and serve the nation and spread Czech culture, and became literature simply for the sake of art. The orientation toward France, Northern Europe, and Russia intensified, and new demands were laid on the cultural knowledge of authors and their audience.
After their rebellious first decade, the new generation of poets (Toman, Neumann, Šrámek) turned toward nature and life in their work. This decade also marked the return of Catholic authors (Josef Florian, Jakub Deml, Jaroslav Durych, Josef Váchal) and the first entrance of the avant-garde into Czech literature, seeking to document the rapid changes in society and modernization. The first avantgarde style was neoclassicism, which soon gave way to cubism, futurism, and civilism (S. K. Neumann, the young brothers Čapek).
The interwar period, coinciding with the First Republic, is one of the apogees of Czech literature — the new state brought with it a plurality of thinking, religion, and philosophy, leading to a great flowering of literature and culture. The first major theme of the interwar period was the war — the inhumanity, violence, and terror, but also the heroic actions of the Czech Legion (Rudolf Medek, Josef Kopta, František Langer, Jaroslav Hašek). An antiwar comedy novel The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek is the most translated novel of the Czech literature (58 languages as of 2013).
A new generation of poets ushered in the return of the avantgarde: poetry of the heart (early Jiří Wolker, Zdeněk Kalista) and naivism (Čapek brothers, Josef Hora, Jaroslav Seifert, and S. K. Neumann). The avantgarde soon split, however, into the radical proletarian socialist and communist authors (Wolker, Neumann, Karel Teige, Antonín Matěj Píša, Hora, Jindřich Hořejší), the Catholics (Durych, Deml), and to the centrists (brothers Čapek, Dyk, Fischer, Šrámek, Langer, Jan Herben). A specifically Czech literary style, poetism, was developed by the group Devětsil (Vítězslav Nezval, Jaroslav Seifert, Konstantin Biebl, Karel Teige), which argued that poetry should pervade everyday life, that poetry is inseparable from daily life, that everyone is a poet. Prose of the interwar period distanced itself even more from the traditional, single perspective prose of the previous century, in favor of multiple perspectives, subjectivity, and fractured narratives. Utopian and fantastic literature came into the forefront (Jan Weiss, Karel Čapek, Eduard Bass, Jiří Haussmann), as well as the genres of documentary prose, which sought to paint as accurate a picture of the world as possible (Karel Čapek, Egon Erwin Kisch, Jiří Weil, Rudolf Těsnohlídek, Eduard Bass, Jaromír John, Karel Poláček); lyrical, imaginative prose that allied itself with the poetic poetry of the time (Karel Konrád, Jaroslav Jan Paulík, Vladislav Vančura); and Catholically-oriented prose (Jaroslav Durych, Jan Čep, Jakub Deml). The drama of the time also followed the same stylistic evolution as poetry and prose — expressionism, followed by a return to realistic, civilian theater (František Langer, Karel Čapek). Along with avantgarde poetry, avantgarde theater also flourished, focusing on removing the barriers between actors and audience, breaking the illusion of the unity of a theatrical work (Osvobozené divadlo, Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich).
After the heady optimism of the 1920s, the 1930s brought with them an economic crisis, which helped spur a political crisis: both the left (Communist) and right (anti-German and fascist) parties radicalized and threatened the stability of the democracy. This led the authors of the time to focus on public matters and spirituality; Catholicism gained in importance (Kalista, Karel Schulz, Halas, Vančura, Durych). Changes were apparent first in poetry: the new generation of poets (Bohuslav Reynek, Vilém Závada, František Halas, Vladimír Holan, Jan Zahradníček) began as poets, but their work is much darker, full of images of death and fear. The older avantgarde (Teige, Nezval) also turned away from poetism to surrealism, and a third group (Hora, Seifert, František Hrubín) turned instead to lyricism, to quiet, memory-filled poetry. Prose, after the years of realistic journalism, turned to epics, existential novels, and subjective perspectives. Folk-inspired ballads (Josef Čapek, K. Čapek, Vančura, Ivan Olbracht), social-themed novels (Olbracht, Vančura, Poláček, Marie Majerová, Marie Pujmanová), and psychological novels (Jarmila Glazarová, Egon Hostovský, Jaroslav Havlíček) appeared. During this period, Karel Čapek wrote his most politically charged (and well-known) plays in response to the rise of fascist dictators. After the Munich Agreement in 1938, literature once more mirrored the current political present and called for national solidarity and a return to the past.
The German protectorate and World War II left its mark on Czech literature — many of the authors of the interwar generations did not survive or went into exile. During 1938–1940, society was still relatively free, but during 1941, most of the free newspapers, magazines, and publishers were shut down, and authors were silenced. WWII thus marks the origin of the 3-way split of literature that continued throughout the socialist years until 1989: domestic published, domestic illegal, and exile literature. As a result of the war, all forms of literature turned even more toward tradition and history: poetry became more subdued, and greater emphasis was laid upon language as an expression of national identity (Hora, Halas, Seifert, Nezval), and on spirituality and religious values (Hrubín, Závada, Zahradníček, Holan). The same occurred in prose: gone were the experimental works of the interwar period, but the social and psychological novel (Václav Řezáč, Vladimír Neff, Miloš Václav Kratochvíl) remained. The historical novel marked a new resurgence (Kratochvíl, Vančura, Durych, Schulz) as a way to write about the present while cloaking it in historical novels, as did prose inspired by folk tales and folk culture (Josef Štefan Kubín, Jan Drda, Vančura, Jaromír John, Zdeněk Jirotka). The generation of authors that debuted during the war and shortly afterwards (Jiří Orten, Group 42) all shared a similar harrowing experience of the war; their works all bear the hallmark of tragedy, existentialist thought, and the focus on the person as an isolated being.
Czech postwar literature is tightly intertwined with the political state of postwar Czechoslovakia; as during the war, literature broke apart into three main branches: domestic published, domestic illegal, and exile literature. Literature under the communist regime became the refuge of freedom and democracy, and literary works and authors were valued not only for their literary merits, but also for their struggle against the regime. The literature of the entire postwar period thus enjoyed great attention, despite its often precarious position. During the first three years after the end of the war (1945–1948), however, literature maintained a certain degree of freedom, although the strengthening of the extreme left gradually pushed out of the public sphere first the Catholic authors (Deml, Durych, Čep, Zahradníček), then the moderate Communists.
1948 brought the ultimate victory of the Communists, and the subsequent end of civil freedoms — any literature contrary to the official perspective was banned and the authors persecuted. The official literary style became socialist realism and all avantgarde leanings were suppressed. Many authors went into exile — to Germany, the U.S., the Vatican. Of those that stayed, many chose to write in secret and remain unpublished (the surrealists (Zbyněk Havlíček, Karel Hynek), Holan, Zahradníček, Jiří Kolář, Josef Jedlička, Jan Hanč, Jiřina Hauková, Josef Škvorecký, Egon Bondy, Jan Zábrana, Bohumil Hrabal). Most of their works were published only during the 1960s and 1990s.
Only at the end of the 1950s did the tight censorial control begin to ease — some poets were allowed to publish again (Hrubín, Oldřich Mikulášek, Jan Skácel) and a new literary group formed around the magazine Květen, striving to break the hold of socialist realism (Miroslav Holub, Karel Šiktanc, Jiří Šotola). Prose lagged behind poetry for much of the period, with the exception of Edvard Valenta and Josef Škvorecký. Shorter works, such as the short story also became popular again.
The 1960s brought with them the beginnings of reform efforts in the Communist party, and the subsequent liberalization of literature and increasing prestige of authors. Beginning with 1964, literature began to broaden in scope beyond the officially approved style. In poetry, intimate lyricism became popular (Vladimír Holan), as well as epic poetry (Karel Šiktanc, Hrubín), and the realism of Group 42. In prose, new authors abandoned polemics about socialism and instead turned toward personal and civic morality (Jan Trefulka, Milan Kundera, Ivan Klíma, Pavel Kohout), the theme of war and occupation (Jiří Weil, Arnošt Lustig), especially the fate of Jews. Bohumil Hrabal became the most prominent of the contemporary prose authors, with his works full of colloquialisms and non-traditional narrative structures, and the absence of official moral frameworks. Toward the end of the decade, novels of disillusionment, skepticism, and a need to find one's place in the world and history begin to appear (Vaculík, M. Kundera, Hrubín), as do modern historical novels (Oldřich Daněk, Jiří Šotola, Vladimír Körner, Ota Filip). The 1960s also brought the debuts of a new generation of authors who grew up during the excesses of Stalinism, and thus had no ideals about world utopias — their works dealt not with changing the world, but with living in it: authenticity, responsibility both moral and literary. These included the poets Jiří Gruša, Josef Hanzlík, Antonín Brousek, Jiří Kuběna, and playwrights Ivan Vyskočil, Jiří Šlitr, Václav Havel, Milan Uhde, Josef Topol. The close of the reform years also saw a return to experiments: surrealism (Milan Nápravník, Vratislav Effenberger), nonsense poetry (Emanuel Frynta), experimental poetry (Josef Hiršal, Bohumila Grögerová, Emil Juliš), abstract poetry and dada (Ladislav Novák), gritty realistic prose (Jan Hanč, Vladimír Páral) and ornate, symbol filled fantasy (Věra Linhartová). The era of literary freedom and experiments, which reached its apogee during the Prague Spring of 1968, came to an abrupt end the same summer, with the Soviet invasion and subsequent "normalization."
Normalization reinstated the severe censorship of the 1950s, shut down most of the literary magazines and newspapers, and silenced authors who did not conform. More than ever before, literature split into the legal, illegal, and exile branches. Many authors fled to the U.S. and Canada (Josef Škvorecký), Germany (Peroutka), Austria (Kohout), France (M. Kundera), but they generally did not fare much better than their contemporaries in Czechoslovakia, largely due to the absence of a readership. Their works became better known only through translations. The work of experimental, avantgarde authors who continued to publish as "official" authors generally shrank in quality, conformed to the official dogma, although in comparison to the 1950s, the literature was less rigid, less wooden. On the border between official and unofficial literature stood authors of historical novels (Korner, Karel Michal), and well as Bohumil Hrabal and Ota Pavel. Seifert, Mikulášek, Skácel were all also barred from publishing; their work was published as samizdat, small underground presses that hand-published much of the work of the underground, illegal authors. Ludvík Vaculík, Jan Vladislav[cs], and Václav Havel and Jan Lopatka organized the largest samizdat editions. It was many of these illegal authors who signed Charta 77 and were jailed for doing so. Samizdat literature again returned to Catholicism, to memoirs and diaries of daily life (Vaculík). Memory and history were also chief motifs of samizdat literature (Karel Šiktanc, Jiřina Hauková), as were brutally honest, factual testimonials of daily life (Ivan Martin Jirous). The new literary generation of the 1980s was marked by the need to rebel, to act outside of the bounds of society — their work draws on the war generation (Group 42), and is often brutal, aggressive, and vulgar (Jáchym Topol, Petr Placák, Zuzana Brabcová); postmodernism also influenced literature as a whole (Jiří Kratochvil, Daniela Hodrová).
The fall of communism in 1989 marked another break in Czech literature — plurality and freedom returned. The works of many of the illegal and exiled authors working under the communist regime were published for the first time (for instance Jan Křesadlo and Ivan Blatný) and many of them returned to public life and publishing. Although some critics would say that contemporary Czech literature (since 1989) is relatively marginalised in comparison with Czech film-making, writers such as Petr Šabach, Ivan Martin Jirous, Jáchym Topol, Miloš Urban, Patrik Ouředník, Petra Hůlová, Michal Viewegh and Kateřina Tučková are public figures and sell books in large numbers. Contemporary Czech poetry, in Petr Borkovec can boast a poet of European standing.
The Czechs, or the Czech people, are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, culture, history, and the Czech language.
Czech cinema is the name for cinematography of Czech Republic, as well as the Czech cinematography while it was a part of other countries.
Established in 1869 on the grounds of Vyšehrad Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, the Vyšehrad Cemetery is the final resting place of many composers, artists, sculptors, writers, and those from the world of science and politics. The centerpiece of the cemetery is the Slavín tomb designed by Antonín Wiehl, a large and notable tomb located within Vyšehrad cemetery.
Největší Čech is the Czech spin-off of the BBC Greatest Britons show; a television poll of the populace to name the greatest Czech in history. The series was broadcast by the national public-service broadcaster, Czech Television. The presenter of the programme was Marek Eben, who was also nominated to be in the Top 100; however, since he was presenting the show he was not eligible to be included in the final list.
The Devětsil was an association of Czech avant-garde artists, founded in 1920 in Prague. From 1923 on there was also an active group in Brno. The movement discontinued its activities in 1930.
The Manifesto of Czech writers was the first public declaration in favour of the self-determination of the Czech nation during the First World War. It was published in May 1917. The declaration was directed at the Czech deputies at the Imperial Council in Vienna, the Parliament of the Austrian parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Josef Hora was a Czechoslovak poet, literary critic and journalist.
The Prague Conservatory is a public music school in Prague, Czech Republic, founded in 1808. Currently, the school offers four- or six-year courses, which can be compared to the level of a high school diploma in other countries. Graduates can continue their training by enrolling in an institution that offers undergraduate education.
Alois Jirásek was a Czech writer, author of historical novels and plays. Jirásek was a high school history teacher in Litomyšl and later in Prague until his retirement in 1909. He wrote a series of historical novels imbued with faith in his nation and in progress toward freedom and justice. He was close to many important Czech personalities like Mikoláš Aleš, Josef Václav Sládek, Karel Václav Rais or Zdeněk Nejedlý. He attended an art club in Union Cafe with them. He worked as an editor in Zvon magazine and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1918, 1919, 1921 and 1930.
The Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk is an Order of the Czech Republic and the former Czechoslovakia. It was established in 1990 after the Velvet Revolution, and re-established in 1994. The President of the Czech Republic awards it to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the development of democracy, humanity and human rights. Unlike in the past, it is awarded to the Czech citizens and foreigners alike. The order has five classes, of which class I is the highest. The order is named in honor of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, an advocate of Czechoslovak independence and the first President of Czechoslovakia.
The theatre of the Czech Republic has a rich tradition in all genres, including drama, opera, ballet and dance, puppet theatre, black light theatre etc.
The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague is a public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. The university offers the study disciplines of painting, illustration and graphics, fashion design, product design, graphic design, ceramics and porcelain, photography and architecture.
(Percy) Paul Selver was an English writer and translator. A prolific translator of Czech literature into English, he was best known as the translator of Karel Čapek.
The Václav Špála Gallery is a Prague gallery of mostly contemporary art. It is located at no. 59/30 Národní třída, in the New Town of Prague. The gallery holds exhibitions particularly of works by living Czech professional artists of the middle generation who are among the best painters, photographers, and sculptors on the art scene today. The exhibitions regularly alternate between works of painting, photography, and sculpture.
Pestrý týden was a Czech illustrated weekly magazine published from 2 November 1926 to 28 April 1945, during the First and Second Czechoslovak Republics and during the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It helped establish top photo-reporters of the 1930s, such as Karel Hájek, Václav Jírů and Ladislav Sitenský. Published and printed by Grafické závody by Václav Neubert and Sons, based in Smíchov, Prague it was issued in 963 numbers.
References
Česká literatura od počátků k dnešku, by Jiří Holý, Jaroslava Janáčková, Jan Lehár, Alexandr Stich (Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2004) ISBN80-7106-308-8
Holý, Jiří, Writers Under Siege: Czech Literature since 1945. Sussex Academic Press, 2007
Weiskopf, Franz Carl. Hundred towers: a Czechoslovak anthology of creative writing. New York: L.B. Fischer, 1945.
External links
-An overview, in English, of the history of Czech literature since its inception to the present day. (January 2009)
Resources in English on Czech Literature, Cinema and Politics
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