EPISODE · Aug 31, 2022 · 28 MIN
Forum Radio: No such thing as the “good old days”
from Podcasty Univerzity Karlovy · host Univerzita Karlova
Many Czech readers knew Pavlá Horáková already as the author of the Sexton Beetles trilogy for young readers or for her work as a translator of writers such as Saul Bellow and Kurt Vonnegut. But in 2018, Pavla gained even greater renown for her debut novel for adults titled A Theory of Strangeness, which won the prestigious Magnesia Litera award for prose. The book drew many readers in with its quirky protagonist and her unusual observations. And it became a bestseller. The novel has since been translated into Spanish and Italian, winning her scores of new readers abroad. Last year, Pavla followed up with a second novel called In the Heart of Europe, telling the story of another young protagonist but this time also her great-grandmother some 100 years apart. The author drew upon – and incorporated into the story – her own great-grandmother’s memoir. In doing so, she opened an authentic window to the past, a time when Czechs weren’t independent but were a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A time when Vienna, for many, was the centre of the world.
What this episode covers
Many Czech readers knew Pavlá Horáková already as the author of the Sexton Beetles trilogy for young readers or for her work as a translator of writers such as Saul Bellow and Kurt Vonnegut. But in 2018, Pavla gained even greater renown for her debut novel for adults titled A Theory of Strangeness, which won the prestigious Magnesia Litera award for prose. The book drew many readers in with its quirky protagonist and her unusual observations. And it became a bestseller. The novel has since been translated into Spanish and Italian, winning her scores of new readers abroad. Last year, Pavla followed up with a second novel called In the Heart of Europe, telling the story of another young protagonist but this time also her great-grandmother some 100 years apart. The author drew upon – and incorporated into the story – her own great-grandmother’s memoir. In doing so, she opened an authentic window to the past, a time when Czechs weren’t independent but were a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A time when Vienna, for many, was the centre of the world.
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Forum Radio: No such thing as the “good old days”
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