Zbabělci – Škvorecký Josef (2015)

Today, the now-iconic and globally renowned novel by Josef Škvorecký, one of the most prominent authors of Czech modern literature, depicts the last eight days of World War II in a small town as seen through the eyes of adolescent "pásků" who mock false phrases and seemingly noble gestures, whether they sound heartily patriotic or pathetically revolutionary. The boys cannot resist the theatrical revolutionary fervor of their fathers against the capitulating Germans, and Danny and his friend even – rather accidentally – destroy a German tank and welcome the Red Army. However, the general wave of patriotic enthusiasm and the scenes of torture of German soldiers who failed to escape repel him, and a fear of the Soviet soldiers, whose arrival has already mobilized the local communists, creeps into his mind. Škvorecký's novel brought not only a groundbreaking generational, ruthlessly realistic, and non-moralizing perspective on historical events at the time, but also a suggestively presented psychological probe into the soul of an adolescent young man whose life until then had been filled only with friends, jazz, and a longing for Irena, an unattainable love. The language of the novel is lively and authentic, unbound by conventions. The regime outrageously condemned and damned the author for all this, while readers welcomed the work with...