Daylight in Nightclub Inferno: Czech Fiction from the Post-Kundera Generation (Paperback)

by Elena Lappin (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
As the title indicates, there is Czech literature after Kundera, Havel, and their coevals. In Daylight in Nightclub Inferno we have the best starting point in English translation to start reading some of these important European voices. These authors were raised under Communism and lived to see its decay and collapse; the volume's 20 stories and novel excerpts are ordered and selected especially to illuminate that still-combustible part of the world and the rare literary sensibilities of the Czech people. Representing an amazing range of styles, the 16 writers collected here, though perhaps little-known outside their own country, include numerous award-winning talents: Jachym Topol, Daniela Fischerova, Vasek Koubek, and Pavel Brycz, to name just a few. Editor Elena Lappin, who grew up Czechoslovakia and now lives in London, compiled the volume.

From Booklist
Prague is frequently referred to these days as the Paris of the 1990s--not an invalid label, given the caliber and fervor of creativity in the Czech capital following the amazingly quick ouster of the Communist leadership in 1989. Czech literature came above ground after the collapse of the iron curtain, and a new generation of writers is putting pen to paper with not only speed but consequence. This important anthology, which gathers short stories and novel excerpts from the best of the young writers, places some marvelous talent on display. These men and women have an unmistakable command of the flexibility of fiction, artfully tailoring either the story or novel form to their individual needs and desires of expression. For all international fiction collections. Brad Hooper

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Product Details

• Paperback: 307 pages
• Publisher: Catbird Press; 1st edition (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945774338
• ISBN-13: 978-0945774334
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,922,318 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Post-communist voices, September 8, 1999

By	"vparobek" (the Midwest, USA) - See all my reviews

The title of this book may seem a little perplexing, but fans of contemporary Czech writers like Daniela Hodrova, Michal Viewegh and Jachym Topol (whose works have not been widely translated yet into English) will need to add this one to their collection. Literary aficionados will wonder tho', about the "post-Kundera" part of the title; since when did Milan Kundera ever represent a Czech literary criterion? Nevertheless, Daylight is an eclectic compilation of works of varied length, placed in such an order, explains editor Lappin in her intro, to purposely swing from one literary style to the next. The first selection is an excerpt from much-heralded young author J. Topol's novel, Sister, a postmodernist stream-of-consciousness piece with lots of perplexing ellipsis marks and leaps of imagination; it apparently is supposed to be a satire on literary criticism. No such vagueness exists with Viewegh's excerpt from his 1996 novel, Sightseers. It is an easy-to-read, stinging spoof on the "cult of seriousness that rules Czech writers" and his alter-ego, Max, is delightfully anti-competition. This brief example of Viewegh's work turned me into an instant fan, prompting me to hunt down his Bringing up Girls in Bohemia. Next, Daniela Fischerova's "Letter to Eisenhower" offers a glimpse into her 1950s Sovietized grade school years. Tereza Bouckova's "Quail," a lenghty short story, is my favorite in all of Daylight: the sad saga of a pregnant woman jilted by her lover. Probably every woman can identify with her despair and her agonizing decision to terminate the pregnancy (which also results in a kind of "spiritual abortion" for the woman). Another long short story is Jiri Kratochvil's "The story of King," set in Brno (a nice change of locale) which provides more biting commentary on Czech politics and literary stars. For some reason, the editor chose to split up the 3 different excerpts from Topol and Viewegh and scatter them throughout the book. Topol's middle piece is far better than the first. Read him carefully here: he can be sly, quick and devastating. We meet up again with Max the anti-competitionist in the second Viewegh piece. Topol soon shows up again with "Lord of the slab," taken from his novella, Angel, a more linear narrative which prove that he CAN tell a story. Topol here provides us with an interesting, different type of male character--a Czech Archie Bunker, if you will. Michal Ajvaz hits us with all kind of little truths the entire way thru his "The Pohorelic Bistro." Halina Pawlowska provides a look at a young Ukrainian girl as a Young Pioneer with the Socialist Youth League and as always, entertains us with the little details she is so good at capturing. The much-touted Daniela Hodrova, ordinarily difficult to read because of her overreliance on postmodern literary gimmicks, is here with some surprisingly linear narrative vignettes of Prague women; they are unremarkable except for the topical references to Prague landmarks. Pavel Reznicek's piece is a mixture of realism and fantasm as is Ewald Murrer's "The Mask." The story by Alexandra Berkova is nonsensical fantasy which I skipped over. Another thing I also do not understand is why editor Lappin felt compelled to include 3 older writers in this book. They were nice to read, but surely Lappin could have filled the space with other younger writers! Iva Pekarkova, for one, is glaringly absent from this anthology. What gives??

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Post-communist voices, September 8, 1999

By A Customer

The title of this book may seem a little perplexing, but fans of contemporary Czech writers like Daniela Hodrova, Michal Viewegh and Jachym Topol (whose works have not been widely translated yet into English) will need to add this one to their collection. Literary aficionados will wonder tho', about the "post-Kundera" part of the title; since when did Milan Kundera ever represent a Czech literary criterion? Nevertheless, Daylight is an eclectic compilation of works of varied length, placed in such an order, explains editor Lappin in her intro, to purposely swing from one literary style to the next. The first selection is an excerpt from much-heralded young author J. Topol's novel, Sister, a postmodernist stream-of-consciousness piece with lots of perplexing ellipsis marks and leaps of imagination; it apparently is supposed to be a satire on literary criticism. No such vagueness exists with Viewegh's excerpt from his 1996 novel, Sightseers. It is an easy-to-read, stinging spoof on the "cult of seriousness that rules Czech writers" and his alter-ego, Max, is delightfully anti-competition. This brief example of Viewegh's work turned me into an instant fan, prompting me to hunt down his Bringing up Girls in Bohemia. Next, Daniela Fischerova's "Letter to Eisenhower" offers a glimpse into her 1950s Sovietized grade school years. Tereza Bouckova's "Quail," a lenghty short story, is my favorite in all of Daylight: the sad saga of a pregnant woman jilted by her lover. Probably every woman can identify with her despair and her agonizing decision to terminate the pregnancy (which also results in a kind of "spiritual abortion" for the woman). Another long short story is Jiri Kratochvil's "The story of King," set in Brno (a nice change of locale) which provides more biting commentary on Czech politics and literary stars. For some reason, the editor chose to split up the 3 different excerpts from Topol and Viewegh and scatter them throughout the book. Topol's middle piece is far better than the first. Read him carefully here: he can be sly, quick and devastating. We meet up again with Max the anti-competitionist in the second Viewegh piece. Topol soon shows up again with "Lord of the slab," taken from his novella, Angel, a more linear narrative which prove that he CAN tell a story. Topol here provides us with an interesting, different type of male character--a Czech Archie Bunker, if you will. Michal Ajvaz hits us with all kind of little truths the entire way thru his "The Pohorelic Bistro." Halina Pawlowska provides a look at a young Ukrainian girl as a Young Pioneer with the Socialist Youth League and as always, entertains us with the little details she is so good at capturing. The much-touted Daniela Hodrova, ordinarily difficult to read because of her overreliance on postmodern literary gimmicks, is here with some surprisingly linear narrative vignettes of Prague women; they are unremarkable except for the topical references to Prague landmarks. Pavel Reznicek's piece is a mixture of realism and fantasm as is Ewald Murrer's "The Mask." The story by Alexandra Berkova is nonsensical fantasy which I skipped over. Another thing I also do not understand is why editor Lappin felt compelled to include 3 older writers in this book. They were nice to read, but surely Lappin could have filled the space with other younger writers! Iva Pekarkova, for one, is glaringly absent from this anthology. What gives??