Karolinum Press, Charles University
Beyond the World of Men
Women’s Fiction at the Czech Fin de Siècle
9788024656175
9788024656311
9788024656328
Distributed for Karolinum Press, Charles University
Beyond the World of Men
Women’s Fiction at the Czech Fin de Siècle
An inclusive collection of modern Czech short fiction that features overlooked women writers.
Bringing together Czech fiction published by women between 1890 and 1910, Beyond the World of Men presents works that confront pivotal issues of the time, including the “woman question” and women’s rights, class conflict, lesbian love, and the relationship between the aristocracy and the Czech peasantry (as in two stories originally written in German by the aristocrat Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach). The collection contains stories that are of literary merit, but also hold historical value. In these works, the authors offer trenchant social commentary while injecting both comic and sentimental elements into their writing, employing humanity and subtlety.
As a whole, the collection suggests a revision of the critical understanding of Czech literary modernism; these writers represent voices that were not usually heard in the male writing of the period. They also demand evaluation in their differing (but constant) reactions to earlier women’s writing in Czech and in other European languages, but particularly that of the central figure of Božena Nemcová, to whose canonic novel Babicka they constantly return.
Bringing together Czech fiction published by women between 1890 and 1910, Beyond the World of Men presents works that confront pivotal issues of the time, including the “woman question” and women’s rights, class conflict, lesbian love, and the relationship between the aristocracy and the Czech peasantry (as in two stories originally written in German by the aristocrat Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach). The collection contains stories that are of literary merit, but also hold historical value. In these works, the authors offer trenchant social commentary while injecting both comic and sentimental elements into their writing, employing humanity and subtlety.
As a whole, the collection suggests a revision of the critical understanding of Czech literary modernism; these writers represent voices that were not usually heard in the male writing of the period. They also demand evaluation in their differing (but constant) reactions to earlier women’s writing in Czech and in other European languages, but particularly that of the central figure of Božena Nemcová, to whose canonic novel Babicka they constantly return.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments and sources
Czech Women’s Fiction at the Fin de Siècle: Beyond the World of Men
Biographical notes on authors
Bibliography
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach He Kisses Your Hand (1885)
Tereza Nováková A Kaleidoscope (1890)
Božena Viková-Kunetická Confirmed Bachelors (1891)
Ružena Svobodová Life’s Sorrow (1891–5)
Tereza Svatová A Visit to His Parents (1894)
Tereza Svatová The ‘Práže’: A Prague Bastard (1894)
Vladimíra Jedlicková Tale About Nothing, no. 5 (1903)
Vladimíra Jedlicková Tale About Nothing, no. 14 (1903)
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach Daily Life (1904)
Anna Maria Tilschová A Widow (1905)
Anna Maria Tilschová A Rose for Uncle: An Unserious Tale of a Very
Young Coquette, with a Moral (1906)
Božena Benešová Theories (1906)
Marie Majerová A Tale from Hell (1907)
Marie Majerová Marriage (1907)
Božena Benešová A Loyal Wife (1908)
Anna Lauermannová-Mikschová Solitude (1908)
Helena Malírová Three Points of View (1908)
Ružena Svobodová ... And Music will be Playing Outside Your
Windows Every Day! (1908)
Ružena Jesenská The Death of Ophelia (1909)
Ružena Jesenská A Truthful Tale of a Stone Statue (1909)
Lila Bubelová The Child (1912)
Marie Majerová A Thorny Question (1917)
Anna Maria Tilschová A Remarkable Incident (1924)
Lida Merlínová Marie and Marta (1933)
Czech Women’s Fiction at the Fin de Siècle: Beyond the World of Men
Biographical notes on authors
Bibliography
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach He Kisses Your Hand (1885)
Tereza Nováková A Kaleidoscope (1890)
Božena Viková-Kunetická Confirmed Bachelors (1891)
Ružena Svobodová Life’s Sorrow (1891–5)
Tereza Svatová A Visit to His Parents (1894)
Tereza Svatová The ‘Práže’: A Prague Bastard (1894)
Vladimíra Jedlicková Tale About Nothing, no. 5 (1903)
Vladimíra Jedlicková Tale About Nothing, no. 14 (1903)
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach Daily Life (1904)
Anna Maria Tilschová A Widow (1905)
Anna Maria Tilschová A Rose for Uncle: An Unserious Tale of a Very
Young Coquette, with a Moral (1906)
Božena Benešová Theories (1906)
Marie Majerová A Tale from Hell (1907)
Marie Majerová Marriage (1907)
Božena Benešová A Loyal Wife (1908)
Anna Lauermannová-Mikschová Solitude (1908)
Helena Malírová Three Points of View (1908)
Ružena Svobodová ... And Music will be Playing Outside Your
Windows Every Day! (1908)
Ružena Jesenská The Death of Ophelia (1909)
Ružena Jesenská A Truthful Tale of a Stone Statue (1909)
Lila Bubelová The Child (1912)
Marie Majerová A Thorny Question (1917)
Anna Maria Tilschová A Remarkable Incident (1924)
Lida Merlínová Marie and Marta (1933)