Me starting to read the post: Kitty kitty! Wow lil kitten! Kitty! Me after reading the post: :(
2 months ago | 209
Your understanding of history especially in the context of modern internet culture and politics is so astonishingly wise. This story about Hrabal hits especially hard considering I only recently found out about some of your past content and about the old political community on Youtube and how absolutely vile it was towards you. It really is a miracle that you were able to separate yourself completely from those lunatics and build strongly-formed arguments based on your unique experience in European history. Always looking forward to your content
2 months ago | 77
Thank you for sharing Hrabal's work! "I served the king of England" also has a great movie adaptation (: Apart from his work, I knew him for signing the pro-soviet anti-charter in 77. Many artists were, and still are, shamed for not signing the previous charter 77, which was critical of the communist party. Actively opposing that movement by signing the pro-party anti-charter, stained the name of many artists
2 months ago
| 85
Even though there isn't a particular reason why you posted this, I really read passionately you description. You should turn this book suggestion thing into something regular
2 months ago | 28
Funnily enough, I'm about to start "Too Loud A Solitude" right now! just got my copy.
2 months ago | 1
Huh, I have never thought that "I served the King of England" is a satire of capitalism. I thought that it was a fun story with an unscrupulous anti-hero, all systems have those people. And I received full points on that book during maturita.
2 months ago | 6
I appreciate you spending some time highlighting a lesser known author today. I will look for his work and give it a read.
2 months ago | 6
I did a little research into this book before committing and I noticed that there’s not many summaries that come with a warning about the graphic violence towards animals that it includes. that’s a serious trigger warning that I feel like should be included when you make a recommendation
2 months ago | 7
Just bought and read closely watched trains at a second hand bookstore in Brooklyn… was a great day and novel
2 months ago | 0
The whole setting aside of people as “reformed” seems to defeat any nominal purpose of “reform” to me; usually when I hear of “reform” I assume it is meant to be a precursor to reintegration into a broader group or society, that the prior alleged infractions are no longer a hindrance for that individual’s continued participation as once before, but such a deliberate and insistent use of the label in that way demonstrates an opposite purpose. Reminds me somewhat of the concept of “conversos” in early modern Spain and her colonies. The way language is used sometimes is odd to me.
2 months ago (edited) | 16
Postliminy is not a principle generally observed nowadays. I think it should be.
2 months ago | 3
I've been considering learning Czech. Thanks for the added motivation!
2 months ago | 0
Yes, Bohumil Hrabal was one of the greatest czech authors of our time indeed! But he is definitly not as talked about here, probably because of him signing the anti-charta. Well anyways I have read multiple of his books and they were all great.
2 months ago | 1
Okay All bite. Who ia this person online of whom you speak? I'm legit curious and haven't been keeping up with petu drama for the sake of my sanity as of late.
2 months ago | 2
Hrabal is literary titan. I'm not Czech or Eastern European, but I have read a lot of his works and he never disappoints.
2 months ago | 1
He may be a great writer but he doesn't seem to understand how cats work. They don't hurt you for no reason, ever. There's always a reason and it's always legit, like they're hurt, they're stressed by overcrowding or poor living conditions, etc. It comes down to your failure to provide a healthy environment as a cat carer. A healthy cat is a safe and often extremely loving and gentle cat. They are such incredibly thoughtful animals.
2 months ago | 4
Is that little blurb at the end referencing someone specifically?
2 months ago | 8
Kraut
Bohumil Hrabal was a great Czech novelist of the 20th century. A socialist believer, yet still a reformist, he is most famous for his works on the Nazi occupation of Czechia, and his great satire of capitalism "I served the King of England".
Being a reformist he was unpersoned after the Prague Spring and banned from working as an artist. He eventually decided to make a theatrical apology, confessing to all the misdeeds and crimes the regime had falsely accused him of. He hoped this would allow him to work again. But in the end it threw him into an impossible situation.
His friends and fellow artists who refused to bend the knee to the regime were furious with him. They all came together to condemn him, refused to talk to him, let alone work with him. The famous Czech dissident songwriter Karel Kryl, famously denounced him as "the whore of Prague". Yet even for them this was just as painful an act to commit. The Czech dissident novelist Milan Kundera eventually pointed out that despite everything, Hrabal was still the greatest living Czech author.
At home in Czechia Hrabal remained tormented even by those he had apologised to. He was permitted to work in film and art again, and to write and publish novels again. But the regime constantly clawed itself into him. His so called past infractions were permanently held over his head. At no point was he ever permitted to forget that his entire career and ability to work was conditioned on the good will of those who had forced him to apologise.
Hrabal became what is known as a "reformed person" in the jargon of Marxist regimes. A somewhat ironic term, because the thing about "reformed people" in Marxist regimes, is that non of them were ever really "reformed". The term "reformed" morphed in those regimes into a sort of ever present reminder, that this was a "once bad person". In a particularly cruel perversion of justice, the term "reformed" in communist regimes basically took on the same meaning as a criminal record. And it was also a permanent reminder that this was a person entirely dependant in their life on the good graces of those who held the leash of their past lives tightly tied around their necks. An existence of permanent torment by having the fear of being unpersoned again and again and again made a permanent part of life.
Struggling under this continuous torment. Bohumil Hrabal wrote one of his most famous works. The short story "All my Cats". In summary, the book is about how he gets a little summer cottage outside of Prague, and there he begins to bring all the cute little kittens that he finds abandoned in Prague. He feeds them, cares for them, cuddles them. But as they grow in number and age the situation becomes increasingly difficult. The kittens become cats who still adore him, yet as he is overwhelmed by the challenges of caring for their needs they begin to scratch, bite and hurt him.
It is a story about the struggle of dealing with what to do when those who you love start to hurt you.
Posting this for no particular reason, other than that I think someone who may consider themselves in a similar situation online, may find a little comfort in reading here.
2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 1,696