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

In the Czech Republic, the 1968 Prague Spring serves as a generational marker much the way the date of JFK's (or RFK's or MLK's) assassination does in the U.S. The best-known Czech writers Miroslav Holub, Ivan Kl!ma, Milan Kundera, Josef Skvorecky came of age in the decade immediately before the Prague Spring and its cycle of reform and repression. This collection purports to showcase the next generation. Although the writers vary in age, all 20 stories were first published after Czechoslovakia (and then the Czech Republic) became independent of Moscow. But after decades caught between the officially condoned Socialist Realism and the absurdist or metaphorical soul searching of more samizdat writing, many of the contributors here seem uncertain about where to go next. In fact, some of the best pieces are by older writers, like Jir! Kratochvil's (b. 1940) ironic ""The Story of King Candaules,"" about a talentless beauty who becomes the premier Czech poetess through the help of the narrator's theory of mystification; or Marta Kadlic!kov 's (b. 1935) ""Ode to Joy,"" a skillful, if familiar, story about a man whose optimistic faith in the system keeps him smiling as his body parts fall away. Still, an unexpectedly and undefinably sad piece, ""Dance on the Square,"" is by Pavel Brycz who, at 28, is the youngest contributor to the collection. Perhaps this indicates that Czech writers will once again find a distinctive voice in the chaos. (Feb.)