Za devatero větami postmoderní pohádky – Drozd Pavel (2011)

The collection of fourteen prose texts by the author publishing under the pseudonym Pavel Drozd, titled Za devatero větami, carries the subtitle "postmodern fairy tales," although the texts themselves are difficult to classify genre-wise. They are neither classic short stories nor novellas, nor are they vague postmodern variations and games on predetermined themes. The author maintains a proper distance from so-called postmodernism and perceives it with a slightly ironic exaggeration. His stories or their fragments are characterized by a sympathetic modesty and humility, but they are also marked by thematic diversity and ambiguity leaning towards symbols and subtle philosophical reflections. The author captures his childhood and youth, complex life peripeteias, so his texts may resemble a kind of quasi-autobiographical confession. However, the authorial subject is always suppressed, and the captivating story takes center stage, combining dialogue with internal monologue. The time and place in which Drozd's stories unfold are varied: there is a sequence from old Prague as well as a memory of a small town in the 1980s. The exotic Spanish and, moreover, historical setting is alternated with the silence of an antiquarian bookstore, where a young poet meets an experienced woman somewhat worn by life and…