{"title":"Series: Modern Czech Classics","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModern Czech Classics\u003c\/strong\u003e offers a rich tapestry of works that capture the spirit and creativity of contemporary Czech literature and thought. Readers will discover a diverse range of topics that reflect the country's unique perspective, spanning from cultural narratives and historical reflections to innovative design and technological advances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEmbracing genres across \u003cem\u003eArts \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Military\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eEngineering \u0026amp; Technology\u003c\/em\u003e, this collection invites exploration of Czech contributions to literature, politics, and science. Each title provides insightful contexts that resonate beyond national borders, appealing to those with an interest in Central European modernity and heritage.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"ear-by-jan-prochazka-9788024651354","title":"Ear","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA paranoid thriller of life under surveillance in Soviet Czechoslovakia.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA deputy minister in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Ludvík enjoys all the luxuries that success in the party affords him, but he must be careful: he’s under no illusions about the secret police bugging his apartment. Luckily, he and his wife, Anna, know where the bug is and where they can safely converse. However, any comfort they feel disappears the evening they attend an official party, where they learn that Ludvík’s boss has just been arrested after presenting a report written by Ludvík himself. Is Ludvík next?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBack home after the party, the couple must get past unresolved marital tensions to eliminate absolutely anything that could incriminate them—all while contending with the strange men outside their apartment and the bug inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePenned under the oppressive watch of Soviet authorities in 1960s Czechoslovakia—but touching on still-current themes of surveillance and paranoia—this cinematic thriller is as tense and timely as ever. A promising Party member who became persona non grata after the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, author Jan Procházka knew firsthand the gnawing terror of life in a surveillance state: after his death in 1971, the new tenants of his apartment discovered twelve hidden listening devices. As \u003ci\u003eThe Bug\u003c\/i\u003e makes terrifyingly clear, the most frightening horror stories are the ones closest to everyday reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853254217964,"sku":"9788024651354","price":26.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4502993485045.jpg?v=1759193158"},{"product_id":"saturnin-by-zdenek-jirotka-9788024632889","title":"Saturnin","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn its initial publication in Czech in 1942, \u003ci\u003eSaturnin\u003c\/i\u003e was a best seller, its gentle satire offering an unexpected—if temporary—reprieve from the grim reality of the German occupation. In the years since, the novel has been hailed as a classic of Czech literature, and this translation makes it available to English-language readers for the first time—which is entirely appropriate, for author Zdeněk Jirotka clearly modeled his light comedy on the English masters Jerome K. Jerome and P. G. Wodehouse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe novel’s main character, Saturnin, a “gentleman’s gentleman” who obviously owes a debt to Wodehouse’s beloved Jeeves, wages a constant battle to protect his master from romantic disaster and intrusive relatives, such as Aunt Catherine, the “Prancing Dictionary of Slavic Proverbs.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSaturnin\u003c\/i\u003e will warm the heart of any fan of literary comedy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853294719212,"sku":"9788024632889","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4318343485045.jpg?v=1759195549"},{"product_id":"summer-of-caprice-by-vladislav-vancura-9788024632896","title":"Summer of Caprice","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSummer of Caprice\u003c\/em\u003e, a captivating comic novel first published in 1926, is a classic of Czech literature, yet it is little known elsewhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCommonly considered untranslatable due to the complexities of the text, which is characterised by a playful narrative and an exceptional mastery of language, and its profound cultural context, it is rendered here in English that beautifully captures Vladislav Vančura’s experimental style—or, as the author himself called it, his “poetism in prose.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMixing the archaic with the innovative, raw colloquialisms with biblical quotations, \u003cem\u003eSummer of Caprice\u003c\/em\u003e opens an uproarious window onto the Czech spirit, humour, and way of life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853302747372,"sku":"9788024632896","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4318413485045.jpg?v=1759196032"},{"product_id":"we-were-a-handful-by-karel-polacek-9788024632858","title":"We Were a Handful","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA favourite work of Czech humour, \u003ci\u003eWe Were a Handful\u003c\/i\u003e depicts the adventures of five boys from a small Czech town through the diary of Petr Bajza, the grocer’s son. Written by Karel Poláček at the height of World War II before his deportation to Auschwitz in 1944, this book draws on the happier years of Poláček’s own childhood as inspiration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs we look upon the world through Petr’s eyes, we, too, marvel at the incomprehensible world of grownups; join in fights between gangs of neighbourhood kids; and laugh at the charming language of boys, a major source of the book’s humour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis translation at last offers English-language readers the opportunity to share in Petr’s (and Poláček’s) childhood and reminds us that joy and laughter are possible even in the darkest times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853360320748,"sku":"9788024632858","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4318033485045.jpg?v=1759198696"},{"product_id":"why-i-write-by-bohumil-hrabal-9788024642680","title":"Why I Write?","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Glimmers in anticipation of Hrabal’s later virtuosity.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“A collection of formative fiction from a writer whose work has earned comparison with Joyce and Beckett. . . . Early work from a writer who merits a larger readership.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis collection of the earliest prose by one of literature’s greatest stylists captures, as scholar Arnault Maréchal put it, “the moment when Hrabal discovered the magic of writing.” Taken from the period when Bohumil Hrabal shifted his focus from poetry to prose, these stories—many written in school notebooks, typed and read aloud to friends, or published in samizdat—often showcase raw experiments in style that would define his later works. Others intriguingly utilise forms the author would never pursue again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFeaturing the first appearance of key figures from Hrabal’s later writings, such as his real-life Uncle Pepin, who would become a character in his later fiction and is credited here as a coauthor of one piece, the book also contains stories that Hrabal would go on to cannibalise for some of his most famous novels. Altogether, \u003ci\u003eWhy I Write?\u003c\/i\u003e offers readers the chance to explore this important nascent phase of Hrabal’s writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eExpertly interpreted by award-winning Hrabal translator David Short, this collection comprises some of the last remaining prose works by Hrabal to be translated into English. A treasure trove for Hrabal devotees, \u003ci\u003eWhy I Write?\u003c\/i\u003e allows us to see clearly why this great prose master was, as described by Czech writer and publisher Josef Škvorecký, “fundamentally a lyrical poet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853362352364,"sku":"9788024642680","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4416253485045.jpg?v=1759198815"},{"product_id":"lamentation-for-77297-victims-by-jiri-weil-9788024645339","title":"Lamentation for 77,297 Victims","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Smoke from nearby factories shrouds a countryside as flat as a table, a countryside stretching off to infinity. Covering it are the ashes of millions of dead. Scattered throughout are fine pieces of bone that ovens were not able to burn. When the wind comes, ashes rise to the heavens, bone fragments remain on the ground. And rain falls on the ashes, and rain turns them to good fertile soil, as befits the ashes of martyrs. And who can find the ashes of those from my native land, of whom there were 77,297? I gather some ashes with my hand, for only a hand can touch them, and I pour them into a linen sack, just as those who once left for a foreign country would gather their native soil so as never to forget, so as always to return to it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo begins Jiří Weil’s unforgettable prose poem, \u003ci\u003eLamentation for 77,297 Victims\u003c\/i\u003e, his literary monument to the Czech Jews killed during the Holocaust. A Czech-Jewish writer who worked at Prague’s Jewish Museum both during and after the Nazi Occupation—he survived the Holocaust by faking his own death and hiding out until the war had ended—Weil wrote \u003ci\u003eLamentation\u003c\/i\u003e while he served as the museum’s senior librarian in the 1950s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis remarkable literary experiment presents a number of innovative approaches to writing about a horror many would deem indescribable, combining a narrative account of the Shoah with newspaper-style reportage on a handful of the lives ended by the Holocaust, and quotes from the Hebrew Bible to create a specific and powerful portrait of loss and remembrance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTranslated by David Lightfoot, \u003ci\u003eLamentation for 77,297 Victims\u003c\/i\u003e is a startling and singular introduction to a writer whose works have been acclaimed by Philip Roth, Michiko Kakutani, and Siri Hustvedt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000665522412,"sku":"9788024645339","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4442843485045.jpg?v=1763294906"},{"product_id":"unsound-siblings-by-egon-bondy-9788024656274","title":"Unsound Siblings","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA new translation of Egon Bondy's classic critique and parody of Communist Czechoslovakia.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBondy's merry utopia, or rather anti-utopia, was written during the bleakest years of \"normalization\" in Communist Czechoslovakia during the 1970s. Once considered a cult novel of the Czech underground, \u003cem\u003eUnsound Siblings\u003c\/em\u003e is not only a celebration of the \"alternative way of life\" of people living deliberately outside of (Communist) state power and a mockery of the contemporary consumerist ideas of the police state, but also a light parody of science fiction, organically incorporating philosophical themes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs much as this work can also be described as \"adventure literature,\" evoking, for example, the scenery of a \"mysterious island,\" its overall message reaches the power of a religious, gospel message that it is, despite all odds, possible to live in this world after all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eUnsound Siblings\u003c\/em\u003e, first published in Czech by the exiled 68 Publishers in Toronto and circulated in samizdat copies in Czechoslovakia, later won the Egon Hostovský Prize.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47307378589932,"sku":"9788024656274","price":43.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4552193485045.jpg?v=1771074628"},{"product_id":"tales-of-the-prague-ghetto-by-siegfried-kapper-9788024649450","title":"Tales of the Prague Ghetto","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA collection of nineteenth-century folklore-infused tales of Jewish life in Prague.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTrained in philosophy and medicine, the writer, translator, scholar, and political and cultural activist Siegfried Kapper (1821–1879) devoted significant effort to the advancement of Jewish culture in Bohemia, Jewish emancipation, and to the commitment of Jews to contemporary Czech society. The three stories in this collection, which first appeared in the press in the 1840s and were posthumously published as a collection at the end of the century, offer a Romantic and folkloric vision of Jewish culture in Prague.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe first story, “Genenda,” displays Kapper’s operatic eye for detail and drama with its account of a dutiful rabbi’s daughter being swept away by a dashing young man, a Christian nobleman disguised as a Jew. “The Curious Guest” is an intricate tale of a quest for wisdom and power. The final story, “Glowing Coals,” is a supernatural tale of romantic desire and revenge, displaying Kapper’s skill at deploying the tropes of folklore for dramatic literary effect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe collection not only provides a colourful snapshot of nineteenth-century Czech-Jewish culture but also resonates with universal human themes that transcend a single national experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47432781037804,"sku":"9788024649450","price":28.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9788024649450.jpg?v=1774556692"},{"product_id":"the-lesser-histories-by-jan-zabrana-9788024649337","title":"The Lesser Histories","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first collection of poetry in English by an acclaimed twentieth-century Czech writer.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the eighth floor of a tower block in Central Europe, Jan Zábrana surveyed the twentieth century. He had been exiled from his own life by Communism. His parents were imprisoned, their health was broken, and he was not allowed to study languages in college. Refusing both to rebel outright or to cave in, he thought of himself as a dead man walking. “To all those who keep asking me to do things for them, I sometimes feel like saying: ‘But I’m dead. I died long ago. Why do you keep treating me as if I were one of the living?’”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYet during some of Europe’s most difficult years, he wrote \u003cem\u003eThe Lesser Histories\u003c\/em\u003e, a collection of sixty-four sonnets that range through themes of age, sex, and political repression—a radiant testament to his times. The lines are emptied both of personal pathos and political stridency. Often Zábrana’s own voice segues into those of poets he had translated over the years, leaving only a bare shimmer of subjectivity—humorous, oblique, pained—with which to view his own works and days.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe poems document a splendid and bitter isolation, and are immersed in the humour, hatreds, and loves of the everyday. Published in Czech in the ill-fated year of 1968, they subsequently fell into neglect. After the fall of Communism in 1989, Zábrana’s collected poems and selected diaries were published in Czech, and he was acclaimed as a major twentieth-century writer. Now, with this collection, he can begin to reach English-language readers for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47432951398636,"sku":"9788024649337","price":33.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9788024649337.jpg?v=1774765999"},{"product_id":"the-pied-piper-by-viktor-dyk-9788024634401","title":"The Pied Piper","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor \u003cem\u003eThe Pied Piper\u003c\/em\u003e, Czech writer Viktor Dyk found his muse in the much retold medieval Saxon legend of the villainous, pipe-playing rat-catcher. Dyk uses the tale as a loose frame for his story of a mysterious wanderer, outcast, and would-be revolutionary—a dreamer typical of \u003cem\u003efin de siècle\u003c\/em\u003e Czech literature who serves Dyk as a timely expression of the conflict between the petty concerns of bourgeois nineteenth-century society and the coming artistic generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eImpeccably rendered into English by Mark Corner, \u003cem\u003eThe Pied Piper\u003c\/em\u003e retains the beautiful style of Dyk’s original Czech. The inspiration for several theatrical and film adaptations, including a noted animated work from critically acclaimed director Jiří Barta, Dyk’s classical novella is given new life by Corner’s translation, proving that the piper is open to new interpretations still.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47433006153964,"sku":"9788024634401","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9788024634401.jpg?v=1774765827"},{"product_id":"plowshares-into-swords-by-vladislav-vancura-9788024648149","title":"Plowshares into Swords","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first English-language translation of a classic Czech antiwar novel written in the wake of WWI.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally published in 1925, \u003cem\u003eTilled Fields and Battlefields\u003c\/em\u003e is an expressionist antiwar novel in which Vladislav Vančura tells the story of the denizens of the Ouhrov estate in language as baroque as the manor that ties them all together. The fragmented narrative introduces the reader to such characters as the Baron Danowitz, his sons, his French concubine, the farmhand František Hora, and the mentally disabled murderer Řeka in the autumn of 1913, before revealing their fates during World War I.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRanging from the peaceful farmlands of Bohemia to the battlefields of Galicia, taking in the pubs of Budapest and the hospitals of Krakow, the novel constitutes an unsentimental and naturalistic approach to the war that created Czechoslovakia. \u003cem\u003eTilled Fields and Battlefields\u003c\/em\u003e is a stunning novel by one of Czech literature’s most important writers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis modernist masterpiece, reminiscent of the work of Isaac Babel and William Faulkner, is now available in English for the very first time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47461258690796,"sku":"9788024648149","price":41.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/7c93bac27805141974fcc6825424d519.jpg?v=1775016326"},{"product_id":"saturnin-by-zdenek-jirotka-9788024650746","title":"Saturnin","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA new edition of a classic of Czech literature and literary comedy.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUpon its initial publication in Czech in 1942, \u003cem\u003eSaturnin\u003c\/em\u003e was a bestseller. 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But the unfolding of the drama is simple, done in casual, homely, humorous terms—until the terrible, heartbreaking resolution of the issue at the end.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47461637128428,"sku":"9788024640228","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9788024640228-the-shop-on-main-street.jpg?v=1774973941"},{"product_id":"bohumil-hrabal-by-jiri-pelan-9788024639093","title":"Bohumil Hrabal","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDescribed by Parul Sehgal in the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e as “one of the great prose stylists of the twentieth century; the scourge of state censors; the gregarious bar hound and lover of gossip, beer, cats, and women (in roughly that order),” Bohumil Hrabal is one of the most important, most translated, and most idiosyncratic Czech authors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eBohumil Hrabal: A Full-Length Portrait\u003c\/em\u003e, Jiří Pelán makes the case that this praise is far too narrow. A respected scholar of French and Italian literature, Pelán approaches Hrabal as a comparatist, expertly situating him within the context of European and world literature as he explores the entirety of Hrabal’s oeuvre and its development over sixty years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eConcise, clear, and as compulsively readable as the works of Hrabal himself, \u003cem\u003eBohumil Hrabal\u003c\/em\u003e was universally praised by critics in its original Czech edition as one of best works of Hrabal criticism. Here it is beautifully rendered into English for the first time by David Short, a celebrated translator of Hrabal’s works.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlso featuring a fascinating selection of black-and-white images from Hrabal’s life, \u003cem\u003eBohumil Hrabal\u003c\/em\u003e is essential reading for anyone interested in this crucial Czech author.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47536334700780,"sku":"9788024639093","price":28.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9788024639093-bohumil-hrabal.jpg?v=1776380749"},{"product_id":"rusalka-by-jaroslav-kvapil-9788024643816","title":"Rusalka","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFamous as the libretto for Antonín Dvorák’s opera of the same name, Jaroslav Kvapil’s poem \u003ci\u003eRusalka\u003c\/i\u003e is an intriguing work of literature on its own. Directly inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s famous “The Little Mermaid,” Kvapil’s reinterpretation adds an array of nuanced poetic techniques, a more dramatic tempo, and dark undertones that echo the work of eminent Czech folklorist Karel Jaromír Erben. All of these influences work in tandem to create a poetic work that is both familiar and innovative.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTransposed into the folkloric \u003ci\u003etopos\u003c\/i\u003e of a landlocked Bohemia, the mermaid is rendered here as a Slavic \u003ci\u003erusalka\u003c\/i\u003e—a dangerous water nymph—who must choose between love and immortality. Thus, \u003ci\u003eRusalka\u003c\/i\u003e, while certainly paying homage to the original story’s Scandinavian roots, is still a distinct work of modern Czech literature. Newly translated by Patrick Corness, Kvapil’s work will now find a fresh group of readers looking to get lost in one of Europe’s great lyrical fairy tale traditions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47598091665644,"sku":"9788024643816","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/acd95cda70167ece1de06c1d00e3fbbc.jpg?v=1778027402"},{"product_id":"crossroads-of-imagination-9788024662763","title":"Crossroads of Imagination","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first anthology of early Czech fantastic writing in translation.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCrossroads of Imagination\u003c\/em\u003e is a rare English-language study of modern science fiction's precursors beyond the U.S. and Britain. Many translated for the first time, these thirty texts reflect a rich Euro-Atlantic tradition from the Romantic age to World War II. Authors include Jakub Arbes, Karel Čapek, Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic, Ladislav Klíma, Jiří Mordechai Langer, Jan Neruda, Emilie Procházková, Jan Weiss, and Julius Zeyer. The anthology highlights women's, Jewish, and queer voices.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePrefaces to each selection uncover how new ideas and technologies shaped the European fantastic—positivism, mistrust of elites, pacifism, spiritism, and xenophobia, alongside expansions in communications, transportation, electrification, and technical education. Comparative essays and annotations look beyond \"major\" literatures and emphasise those of East-Central Europe. Archival images enliven this collection. General and genre readers alike will discover new stories and authors, as well as a fantastic tradition shared across Europe and North America before the advent of modern science fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48038222495980,"sku":"9788024662763","price":56.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9788024662763-crossroads-of-imagination.jpg?v=1785391168"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/series-modern-czech-classics.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}