Povídky ze Svrabové čtvrti - Zmizelý svět židovské Prahy – Kraus František R. (2020)

The texts published in this book are the first part of a project to release the complete literary works of the Jewish Czech writer František R. Kraus (1903–1967). In the stories of this volume (partly autobiographical), his distinctive description of "Prague types" and extraordinary sensitivity to realities stand out. An extraordinary image of Prague unfolds before us (thanks to the art of looking from unexpected angles) and is simultaneously realistic (it is an old, hidden, yet real Prague). Some of the stories concern personalities he knew (Franz Kafka, Egon Ervín Kisch) or tales from the past (Mozart, Casanova), while others are set during the period of Munich and the Protectorate, and partly during the Holocaust, which he himself experienced (Terezín, Auschwitz) and which will be the subject of the next story collection. Until now, only some of the mentioned author's stories have been published, at least in magazines (sometimes distorted by censors), while others have remained until now only in typescript. These stories are being published in book form for the first time. The collection of stories by František R. Kraus is undoubtedly a literary discovery. An unexpected discovery, as within the already well-explored literary "Prague Circle" of interwar Jewish, German, and Czech writers, a new voice has suddenly emerged for readers...