Description
Book SynopsisThis is a collection of Jan Neruda's intimate, wry, bittersweet stories of life among the inhabitants of the Little Quarter of nineteenth-century Prague. These finely tuned and varied vignettes established Neruda as the quintessential Czech nineteenth-century realist, the Charles Dickens of a Prague becoming ever more aware of itself as a Czech rather than an Austrian city.
Prague Tales is a classic by a writer whose influence has been acknowledged by generations of Czech writers, including Ivan Klíma, who contributes an introduction to this new translation.
Trade Review“How often is a reviewer privileged to make so marvellous a discovery?” * The Spectator *
Table of ContentsIntroduction by Ivan Klíma
A Week in a Quiet House
- In Night Clothes
- Most of the House Begins to Stir
- At Home with the Landlord
- A Lyrical Monologue
- Bachelorhood is Bliss
- A Manuscript and a Storm Cloud
- Fragments from the Notes of a Scrivener
- At the Funeral
- Further Proof of the Pudding
- In a Moment of Agitation
- A First Attempt at Fiction
- Five Minutes after the Recital
- After the Draw
- A Happy Family
- The Week Draws to a Close
Mr Ryšánek and Mr Schlegel
A Beggar Brought to Ruin
The Tender Heart of Mrs Rus
Evening Chitchat
Doctor Spoiler
The Water Sprite
How Mr Vorel Broke in His Meerschaum
The Three Lilies
The St Wenceslas Mass
How It Came to Pass
Written This Year on All Souls’ Day
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