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.
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