Europe through literature discussion

For our category "Classic Literature" we have chosen Prague Tales by Jan Neruda who inspired Pablo Neruda so much that the latter chose this surname as a pseudonym.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the Tales in this thread. - What made you vote for this classic? What are your thoughts about the language? The presentation of the characters?/ the atmosphere?

I started Tales a couple of weeks ago, and am around page 73. At first, I found it confusing and wished I'd white-boarded all of the characters, but -- note for those who haven't started it yet - in the second story, Naruda introduces the reader properly to the main characters, including the Doctor who isn't a medical doctor.

I'm enjoying it so far as collection of slice of life stories with one caveat. Be prepared for casual antisemitism. Otherwise, it might take a reader by surprise and ruin an otherwise cheerful reading hour. I am one that thinks we collectively tend to look backwards and believe inaccurately that Hitler pushed antisemitism on the world, and the occupied countries and Allies were either neutral or opposed to his views on Jews (aside from his extermination plan). But the more literature I read from various countries published between 1850 - 1930, the more I must confront the fact that negative stereotypes of Jews were - at minimum - not controversial, among the class of folks who were published writers and their target audiences, in many countries.

Back to the tales, generally, they are a quick read, and I'm looking forward to continuing and figuring out (view spoiler)[how the Doctor is going to get out of marrying the daughter of his landlord (? I think that's her relationship to him) (hide spoiler)]

Carol wrote: "I started Tales a couple of weeks ago, and am around page 73. At first, I found it confusing and wished I'd white-boarded all of the characters, but -- note for those who haven't started it yet - i..."

Pogroms against Jewish people have a long history all over Europe and date back as far as the Middle Ages. Recently, the American historic Jeffrey Veidlinger who is professor for History at the University of Michigan, has published a very interesting title In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The 1918–1921 Pogroms in Ukraine and the Onset of the Holocaust.
In this book, he points out that in the aftermath of WWI, the Pogroms between 1918-1921 were perpetrated by all different types of groups of people (Ukrainian farmers, Polish city dwellers, Russian soldiers and different military groups as well as next door neighbours). About 40.000 Jews were killed and 70.000 died of late effects. 600.000 Jews fled into different countries and about a million resettled within the Ukraine. The reason for these Pogroms that took place in the region north of Kiew was a civil war with no clear fronts. There was a bloody conflict between Poland, Russia and Ukraine at that time which was continued after the official end of WWI. According to Veidlinger, it was a climate in which revolutionary Bolshewiki, conservative-reactionary powers, followers of the Red Army, the White Army and Anarchists there were Jewish people on every side of these conflicts and they, as ever so often, ended up as the scapegoats that were made responsible for defeats. If this is already shocking, the most ghastly aspect is that the comunal slaughtering of these Jews apparently took place in broad daylight for everybody to see and also "well-bread" people took part / had their share in the murders. Another aspect the author points out is that the pogroms became increasingly organized so that when the Nazis arrived two decades later they already found structures to build on...

Orgeluse wrote: "Carol wrote: "I started Tales a couple of weeks ago, and am around page 73. At first, I found it confusing and wished I'd white-boarded all of the characters, but -- note for those who haven't star..."

Orgeluse - thanks for this info, painful as it is. I will look for Veidlinger's book.

I finished it this weekend and it was a pleasant enough slice of life. I loved Mr. Rysanek and Mr. Schlegel, The last story, Figures, was quite long and I never "got into" it, which surprised me because in my experience a collection of this sort typically is arranged such that the first and last stories are often the strongest or at least most accessible.

I had anticipated walking away from it with more enthusiasm than I feel. I'm glad we/I read it given its importance in Czech literature, but I'm personally a little disappointed that I didn't enjoy it more, or enjoy a handful of its stories, at least.

What did everyone else think? Is anyone else reading it?

I have just finished the first chapter. I like the atmospere that is created at the beginning by the "we" narrating in the present and also like how the old woman in the grocery is "illuminated" in the middle of the night, but was confused when the tense switched to the past and the "action" started.
I will continue reading - this book has something autumnal about it - and will report back.

I finished the first of the three parts of Prague Tales titled "A week in a quiet house" and really enjoyed it! We accompany a set of characters all living in different apartments in a big house in Spornergasse which is probably similar to the House of the Two Suns in Nerudova 233 in Mala Strana in Prague, where Neruda lived and worked for quite a while.
The characters are from different social backgrounds but basically lower and middle class and it is shown how they interact with each other in the course of this one week. The most interesting character to me is Wenzel Bavor a young man whose parents own a grocery and who wants to become a novelist. In my opinion he is a reflection of Neruda himself as he criticizes and mocks the subserviant behaviour of Bohemian (= Czech-speaking) people towards the dominating Austrian (= German-speaking) Leitkultur of the time.
The slightly ironic writing style is quite entertaining and I am looking forward to reading the two other parts (Evening Chitchat & Figures).

Orgeluse wrote: "I finished the first of the three parts of Prague Tales titled "A week in a quiet house" and really enjoyed it! We accompany a set of characters all living in different apartments in ..."

Bavor was interesting - agreed.

Thanks to Carol for the comment about the characters being confusing at first but then becoming clearer. I did find it hard to remember who was who at first, but I think I'm getting the hang of it now. It's also an interesting point Orgeluse made about Bavor - he could indeed be seen as a reflection of Neruda himself, especially given his talent for observation and satirical portrayal.
I'm 100 pages in and finding this book to be an interesting window onto the lives of ordinary Czech people of the time. There is indeed some casual antisemitism, but also a few other 'isms' as well, for example the way women are regarded, and the treatment of the Czech language and culture as inferior to German. The characters, though, are quirky and entertaining, and the style is light-hearted, so I'm looking forward to reading on.

Helen wrote: "Thanks to Carol for the comment about the characters being confusing at first but then becoming clearer. I did find it hard to remember who was who at first, but I think I'm getting the hang of it ..."

Carol's recommendation regarding how to deal with the set of characters is indeed helpful - there are not that many but as they are referred to in different ways it indeed gets a bit confusing, so white-boarding is good advice!
As for the depiction of women, I think in the first part (a week in a quiet house), neither sex is presented in a favourable way. Also the men are failures (perhaps with the exception of the novelist?).
I feel the women here are more present to us readers, because they are in the majority and in general more restricted to the house - they do not leave to go and work in an office, but they work from home.