My Merry Mornings: Stories From Prague

by Ivan Klíma, George Theiner

Seven witty stories, one for each day of the week, give a vivid picture of Prague before the Velvet Revolution.

Genres: Czech Literature, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, 20th Century

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Ivan Klíma (born 14 September 1931, Prague, born as Ivan Kauders) is a Czech novelist and playwright. He has received the Magnesia Litera Award and the Franz Kafka Prize, among other honors.

Klíma's early childhood in Prague was happy and uneventful, but this all changed with the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, after the Munich Agreement. He had been unaware that both his parents had Jewish ancestry; neither were observant Jews, but this was immaterial to the Germans.
In November 1941, first his father Vilém Klíma, and then in December, he and his mother and brother were ordered to leave for the concentration camp at Theriesenstadt (Terezín), where he was to remain until liberation by the Russian Liberation Army in May, 1945. Both he and his parents survived incarceration—a miracle at that time—Terezín was a holding camp for Jews from central and southern Europe, and was regularly cleared of its overcrowded population by transports to "the East", death camps such as Auschwitz.
Klíma has written graphically of this period in articles in the UK literary magazine, Granta, particularly A Childhood in Terezin. It was while living in these extreme conditions that he says he first experienced “the liberating power that writing can give”, after reading a school essay to his class. He was also in the midst of a story-telling community, pressed together under remarkable circumstances where death was ever-present. Children were quartered with their mothers, where he was exposed to a rich verbal culture of song and anecdote.
This remarkable and unusual background was not the end of the Klíma's introduction to the great historical forces that shaped mid-century Europe. With liberation came the rise of the Czech Communist regime, and the replacement of Nazi tyranny with proxy Soviet control of the inter-war Czech democratic experiment. Klima became a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.[4] Later, his childhood hopes of fairy tale triumphs of good over evil became an adult awareness that it was often “not the forces of good and evil that do battle with each other, but merely two different evils, in competition for the control of the world”.
The early show trials and murders of those who opposed the new regime had already begun, and Klíma's father was again imprisoned, this time by his own countrymen. It is this dark background that is the crucible out of which Klíma's written material was shaped: the knowledge of the depths of human cruelty, along with a private need for personal integrity, the struggle of the individual to keep whatever personal values the totalitarian regimes he lived under were attempting to obliterate.
For his writing abilities, Ivan Klíma was awarded Franz Kafka Prize in 2002 as a second recipient. His two-volume memoir Moje šílené století ("My Crazy Century") won the Czech literary prize, the Magnesia Litera, in the non-fiction category in 2010.

Biography from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Kl%...

Reviews

[James Barker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories (one for each day of the week) isn't going to change your life but it offers tastily surreal portraits of life in Communist Prague that give a great deal of insight into the strangeness of that world. It is a topsy turvy place where those that are professionally qualified do the menial work of the city and everything has its (grossly inflated) price. Committees try to ensure blanket coverage of grey. People live in fear of spies and snitches. And the narrator (and these stories appear to be heavily autobiographical) goes from job to job (market trader selling fish, hospital orderly, etc) trying to survive. It sounds bleak and the conditions certainly are but Klima tends towards the surreal and it's not without humour.

[Old Man JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptionally great book of excellent short stories. It has the perfect blend of humor with a touch of the absurd telling cleverly thought out stories. Most of the stories were told in the first person by Klima as himself about life in, the then, Czechoslovakia. My favorite stories were: "A Black Market Tale" a hilarious tale about a little boy who jumped from his upstairs window onto Klima's balcony and the boys father, "A Christmas Conspiracy Tale" about a scheme to catch and sell Carp illegally to make extra money and "An Erotic Tale" about a visit to a junk yard to find an engine part but finding more than he was looking for. A very enjoyable read.

[Simon Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I don’t have to tell you, people put down a carpet, and then scatter rugs on top of the carpet, a fur on top of the rugs, and a degenerate lapdog on top of that. They cram books and paperbacks on to their bookshelves and never open a single one, and stand vases on top of the bookcase without it dawning on them that they were designed to hold flowers. Every corner they’ll fill with TV sets and transistors and telephones and tape recorders. Wardrobes overflowing with clothes, these days, Mr Kozina, it isn’t just the women but the men too who dress up to the nines, buying narrow trousers one year and wide ones the next and then the entire nation goes stark staring mad and everyone from eight to eighty starts dressing up like American cowboys. And when they fill one wardrobe they go out and buy another, and they build shelves to accommodate all their paraphernalia, their sprays and their aerosols, their pots and bottles of all the different poisons they put in their food and drink. Then you get people who install inflatable swimming pools in their homes, and fireplaces that work on electricity, and miniature fountains! On their walls they hang swords and sabres, whereas in real life they have never so much as held a garden rake in their hands, much less a lethal weapon; no, they kill with a fountain pen! And they use medals to decorate their walls, medals from battles they know nothing about. And then, when all this junk starts falling from their windows they go and buy a family house. For the sake of all that junk, Mr Kozina, not for the family! And then they acquire a cottage in the country, or an old mill. And every weekend, instead of turning their minds to something more elevated, instead of taking time off to think, they hasten to their cottage to clean and to dust and to make sure no one has stolen any of their useless possessions. They pretend that they’re going in search of fresh air, water, and unspoilt nature, and yet every time they drive out there they contaminate the air we all have to breathe with still more poison until in the end we shall all perish.”

[Pakobylka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vlastně mi to jako takové poklidné čtení z Prahy socialistických časů. Zjistila jsem, že jsem ji kdysi pradávno na střední četla. Dneska s odstupem tam ale vnímám i to, že je to spíš určeno pro zahraniční čtenáře, protože ve všech povídkách jsou pořád vysvětlovaný socialistický reálie, profesoři pracující v kotelnách a tak.
Nicméně to, co jsem si v těch devadesátých letech zapsala jako úryvek k zamyšlení má aktuálnost i dneska, možná trochu jinou, ale má;
"Nikdy jsem nepochyboval o tom, že všichni proroci musili v sobě mít notně bláznovství. Už proto, že normální člověk se upíná k předmětům a věcem, zatímco prorok se upíná k vidinám.
Občas ovšem prorok uchvátí davy a ty se pak na několik chvil nadchnou jeho vidinami. A protože normální člověk se od bláznivého odlišuje mimo jiné tím, že uskutečňuje, davy začnou vidinu uskutečňovat. Samozřejmě všechno skončí návratem do světa věcí, jejich ještě vášnivější idolací a kamenováním proroků.
Je to věčný koloběh, svár mezi hmotou a duchem, mezi přízemní věcností a snivou bláhovostí, mezi touhou vlastnit věci a dosáhnout smír s něčím, co je nad člověkem.
Je mi blízká odvěká bláhovost proroků. Straním jí, i když vím, že jsou odsouzeni k posměchu, k pohrdání a k stále obnovovanému nepochopení. Oni to však byli, kteří už v dávnověku pochopili, co dnes začínají chápat i méně jasnozřiví, že zběsilá touha vlastnit věci a pokořovat svět, namísto aby pokořil sebe, nakonec člověka oddělí od zdrojů života."

[Zuzka-knižníček · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kniha byla často příjemně ironická k době, která ironická určitě ve skutečnosti nebyla...Klíma psát rozhodně umí, kniha je nenáročná, ale upoutá, zaujme. Jedná se o rychlé a příjemné čtení, místy vtipné.

[Milan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lehce pomíjivé. Klímova nejsilnější deviza, odzbrojující přirozenost, neřkuli samozřejmost stylu, který je prost všech školometských krasořečí a klopýtavých pokusů o spestření rytmu (tak častých hříchů mnoha autorových současniků), ukazuje odvrácenou stranu, když nalézá vyjádření v tematické lehkosti obsahu, v rozjuchané světáckosti zasloužilého disidentského nadhledu. Jindy přímo budhisticky nenásilný úsměv prózy tady ustupuje kladivu nutnosti tepat smysl z vět a nabízí prostor také utahané společenské kritice doby a filosofickým zamyšlením na hranici gymnaziálnosti. Knížka neodradila, jen mi svou neskrývanou prozaickostí autora trochu zlidštila

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven little stories, one for each day of the week... Packed with astute observation and a touch of gentle cynicism, these stories explore various aspects of the human condition, especially as experienced in Czechoslovakia before the fall of the Soviet backed puppet regimes. George Theiner's translation is excellent and reads well.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

These short, seemingly autobiographical stories give some insight into day-to-day existence in Communist Czechoslovakia in the 70s, but there isn't much more to them than that, and the narrator's self-importance and insistence that he is wiser and deeper than anyone else, as well as being extremely attractive to every woman he meets, makes the reader skeptical about his observations.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've long been fascinated by the former Communist eastern bloc countries. I read about this book somewhere along the line and finally got around to reading it. The collection of stories, presented as days of the week, gave a good feel for life in Czechoslovakia under the communist regime.

[Usain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Klíma lezend bedacht ik me dat zijn Praag niet zo erg ver weg lag van onze wereld hier vandaag. De stompzinnigheid van onze 'leiders' is zeer vergelijkbaar met die van de communistische van destijds. En geritsel en plantrekkerij is ook hier het verweer van de modale burger.

[Donald Schopflocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories from the life of a banned writer in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s. Sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, sometimes surreal, always revealing of the strictures of life under communist domination.

[Kopyto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pohodové povídky o tom, jak se měli "za komára" Ti, kdož nešli režimu na ruku. "Středeční povídka" je nádherná.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

"One of the lovely and significant works of fiction that fade from the memory very, very slowly." - Skvorecky

[Cornelis Broekhof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toeval bestaat
Ik las dit boek voor, tijdens en na een verblijf in Praag. Het stond al jaren in mijn kast te wachten op het moment dat ik Praag opnieuw zou bezoeken. Ik kende Klíma nog helemaal niet en was nog maar net in zijn boek begonnen, of er verscheen in De Volkskrant een hele pagina naar aanleiding van zijn overlijden op 4 oktober 2025. Ik las dat hij 94 jaar oud is geworden. Dat betekent dat hij het grootste deel van de geschiedenis van zijn land zelf heeft beleefd. In tegenstelling tot zijn landgenoot Kundera koos hij ervoor om Tsjechië, ondanks de communistische repressie, niet te verlaten. Hij kon, zo zei hij, alleen over Tsjechen schrijven, en alleen in het land waar zij en hij leefden.

Lichtvoetig en wrang
Het boek is eigenlijk een verhalenbundel, zo te zien over voorvallen die Klíma zelf min of meer heeft meegemaakt: prachtige verhalen over het leven in Praag onder het communistische regime. De toon is overwegend lichtvoetig, geestig zelfs hier en daar, maar de wrange werkelijkheid klinkt er keihard in door. Waar gebrek is aan bijna alles, doen mensen - ook 'gewone' mensen - van alles om een voordeeltje te behalen, ze bestelen en bedriegen elkaar en maken daar nauwelijks een geheim van. Het sterkste verhaal vond ik de raamvertelling 'Vrijdagmorgen (ziekenbroederverhaal met in een doos gelegd verhaal)', waarin een oude man aan het sterfbed van zijn vrouw nadenkt over zijn huwelijk. Het contrast met de absurde situatie in het ziekenhuis maakt dit serieuze verhaal binnen het verhaal extra aangrijpend.

Aanvulling
Ik vond het boek een geweldige aanvulling op mijn ervaringen in Praag. In een stad met zo'n verpletterende hoeveelheid bouwkundige pracht zou je zomaar vergeten dat het leven in Tsjechië er een tijdlang veel minder fraai uitzag. Goed dus, dat het museum van het communisme grondig uit de doeken doet hoe de communisten in Tsjechië aan de macht kwamen en wat de consequenties ervan waren, alles degelijk onderbouwd met cijfers en geïllustreerd met beelden en objecten. Klíma's verhalen vullen dit beeld aan door te laten zien hoe het voelde om in die tijd te leven, van dag tot dag, hoe mensen probeerden te overleven zonder al te veel schade op te lopen.

Mooi of trouw
Een minpuntje is dat de vertaling niet overal even lekker loopt. Aan een echt goede vertaling zie je niet of nauwelijks dat een tekst niet oorspronkelijk in het Nederlands is geschreven. Dat is hier helaas niet het geval. De uitdrukking 'een vertaling is als een vrouw: ze is mooi of ze is trouw' is hier van toepassing, wat die trouw betreft dan.

[Daniel Polansky]

A series of semi-fantastical vignettes depicting Prague in the 80's, and the author's own peculiar position as a writer banned by the communist state. Fun, funny, sharp and strange, with the ideosyncratic black humor characteristic of Czech writing.

[Saga · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3,5 stars

[Linn Björneld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vissa berättelser var väldigt bra och verkligen fängslande medan andra föll direkt platt

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goated. Simply lovely. Don’t know if they’re real but it doesn’t matter. The translation is superb. He’s a bit of a sexual deviant though which is an interesting choice

[Micheal Rynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy read, these stories feel like you're sat listening to your grandfather tell stories from his past

[l · Rating 3 out of 5]

not particularly remarkable, but they're sweet and (seem to) evoke the time very well. i.e. on meeting an old lover who left the country and asks him why doesn't he also emigrate:

"It so happens that life often presents you only with a choice between two kinds of suffering, two forms of nothingness, two varieties of despair. All you can do is choose which you think will be the less unbearable, or even the more attractive, which will allow you to retain at least a modicum of pride or self-respect. I could have given her so many reasons for and against , and still she would not have been able to understand. And so I preferred to reply by saying: 'I don't know.'

[José Van Rosmalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek telt zeven verhalen, elk genoemd naar een dag van de week, te beginnen met de maandag. De auteur Ivan Klima treedt in de verhalen onder zijn eigen naam op als schrijver die in het toen communistische Tsjechoslowakije toen het beroep van schrijver niet kon uitoefenen. In veel van de verhalen speelt het onderdrukkende regime op de achtergrond een rol. Er is veel omkoping en corruptie. Het sterkste verhaal vind ik het verhaal ‘Vrijdag’ waarin Ivan Klima als ziekenbroeder in een ziekenhuis werkt. Het is een verhaal met een verhaal binnen het verhaal, waarin Klima als schrijver tot zijn recht komt. Het boek blijft boeien, je hebt de neiging om door te blijven lezen.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

CZ úžasně vtipně napsaná knížka. Odlehčeným a s humorem poukazuje na komunistický režim.

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I wrote at the time, "Klima writes a lot like Milan Kundera, so naturally I liked this book."