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July 15, 2006

Czechs and the Poles

The current Polityka carries a review of "Bored in Brno," a film directed by Vladimír Morávek, which "sends up the myth of Czech sexual potency." I've been to Czecho (yes, yes, I have it on good authority that the name of the country is now "Czecho") a few times but had never come across this myth. Sex is a noticeable feature in Czech books though. Or look at Petr Zelenka: people having it off all the time, or at least trying to. Another thing that happens in Czech books is that people drink beer (Hrabal, Hašek). People also go out and sometimes listen to music, including jazz (Škvorecký). In sum, there's plenty of socialising, drinking and screwing in the Czech world. What's the outlook in Polish literature, then? Pretty grim, I'm afraid. People do sometimes have sex and they do sometimes drink but not often and certainly not for pleasure. (See Andrzej Stasiuk's Mury Hebronu (The Walls of Hebron) or Marek Nowakowski's "Wigilia" for the only correct treatment of sex in Polish literature.)

No, "ribald" is not the word that comes to mind in modern Polish literature, though G?owacki occasionally sales dangerously close to the winds of joie de' vivre. Poland has been called the happiest barrack in the socialist camp but you'd never know from reading their novels. While Josef Škvorecký was chasing girls (see his short stories), Libera's insufferable narrator in Madame was pining after an older woman, whom he never laid, of course: something to do with the communists. I haven't read every Polish book there is so if you know of any exceptions to the gloom, shame and misery attached to simple, earthly pleasures in Polish books, let me know. Also, if you can remember how Madame ends, feel free to correct me. And lastly, any Freudians who would care to explain why a film that satirises Czech sexual potency should be re-titled for Polish audiences "Sex in Brno" are also invited to comment.

Posted by hgrodsk at July 15, 2006 09:12 PM

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Comments

"sends up the myth of Czech sexual potency"

The Czech books I've read never gave me the idea that Czechs are especially sexually potent. They did give me the idea that Czechs are the horniest people on earth, but that doesn't necessarily indicate potency as much as obsession.

Polish literature (what I've read, not as much as I should), is the least sexy literature on the planet I think.

Posted by: michael farris at July 16, 2006 01:35 PM

Nice one. I hadn't noticed the Czechs as being especially labidinous, except, like you say in the books and the films.

Kundra - Unbearable lightness of being...what was that stuff about having the bowler hat on the bed everytime they were tickling each others tonsiles?

Posted by: beatroot at July 16, 2006 05:36 PM

OT: Shouldnt "ÄŒesko" be translated as "Czechia"? Czecho really sounds lame.

Posted by: lemuel kolkava at July 21, 2006 11:35 AM

Czechia might be a bit close to Chechnya for western ears but you're right: "Czecho" doesn't quite fit the bill either. Talking about "the Czech Republic" makes you sound like an ambassador though.

Posted by: Henry Grodsk at July 21, 2006 12:52 PM

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