Václav Kahuda
(1965)
Novelist, author of novels, novellas and short stories
The qualities of this writer were first demonstrated during the years his work was published in samizdat. He is extremely successful in stirring the still and dim waters of Czech literary criticism, which often describes him as the successor to Bohumil Hrabal.
Iconic author describing a reality that is wilder than the blackest nightmares.
Selected bibliography:
Veselá bída (Jolly Misery, novella, 1997)
Former grave-digger Kahuda has created a macabre but joyful prose composition that is neither a novella nor a novel, but a stream, a river, or perhaps an estuary of words. It cannot be read in the usual, orderly way from beginning to end, but can be opened anywhere and its contents savoured.
Review:
“Kahuda has composed an anatomical atlas of the dark side of Prague. It maps an organism that is rotting and ulcerating, but for this author it is much more nourishing and healthier than the city´s squeaky-clean, exhibitionist and ´available-cheap´ other face. Kahuda, with the mighty vigour of a raging stoker, has wastefully stuffed his prose with numerous idiosyncrasies and monstrosities. Jolly Misery is an inspiration as it piles up curiosities, brings a blasphemous tribute to the periphery, struggles to grab the truth by protrusion; because the common point of view – as the undertone suggests – is no longer able to picture the reality.”
(Josef Chuchma, MF Dnes)
Exhumace (Exhumation, collection of shorter writings, 1998)
This volume includes the author’s writings from between 1989 and 1993. The two opening stories, Noc (Night) and Samozabíječ (Self-killer) were first published in the samizdat journal Vokno, and the inane, grotesque, fairy-tale travesties were published in the Moderní analfabet (Modern Illiterate) anthology. The axis of the book is the title novella Exhumation, which was prepared for publication over a number of years.
Review:
“Kahuda is a representative of the type of former underground author who is inspired by the “damned poets” of the turn of the century and thus sees the world as the work of demons. He draws from a large resource of expression, finds inspiration in surrealism and folklore and has no qualms about travestying a popular fairytale theme. Some of his texts deliberately resemble something from ancient literary records, but many of his creations leave the reader breathless and lock themselves into his mind for a very long time. The reason for such a long-term impact on the reader might also lie in the fact that Kahuda’s suggestive texts sometimes tend to be close to poems in prose, and that the poet uses the lyrical side of his work to express the pain he is caused by the world as well as the awkward pleasure he gets from discovery.”
(Vladimír Novotný, Rozhlas)
Houština (The Thicket, novel, 1999, 2001)
The Thicket is an autobiographical novel of extensive size. Its openness and depth of confession, its rough and affectionate passages, its mesmerising stories and melancholy, the purity and richness of the depicted fate of an eternal loner and its brilliant language will definitely surprise even those who consider themselves connoisseurs of this near-iconic author.
Review:
“Reading The Thicket is a truly fantastic experience. Considering the state of contemporary ‘young’ prose, such an experience can be marked as unique. Maybe it is because this book, thanks in particular to its smooth flow and culmination, demands to be read over and over again, beginning at any page.”
(Ondřej Cakl, Aluze)
Technologie dubnového večera – April Evening Technology, 2000; Příběh o baziliškovi – The Story of the Basilisk, 1992, 2000 (two novellas in one volume, 2000)
Two novellas by one of the most original entities in contemporary Czech prose. Kahuda is most readily identified by the unmistakable style of his storytelling, which, with the author’s passion, roughness and his lingering on the conversational form, creates a parallel to some of the works of Bohumil Hrabal. The first novella is based on the principle of a drinkers’ dialogue in a pub, which brings together with equal intensity the seemingly common struggles of everyday life and the so-called vastness of history. The bizarre Story of the Bazilisk is actually Kahuda’s first literary work, written in 1992 and published in a very small print-run, which sold out immediately.
Review:
“Kahuda’s flowing speech naturally reminds the reader of Hrabal, but this novelist is half a century younger and as such his style of expression is in a different phase; Hrabal’s ‘people talks’ were the continuation of his avant-garde work and used other means of expression, always supported by the highly cultivated nature of their creator. Kahuda, on the other hand, is a purely plebeian phenomenon, a ‘perverted’ creature, a post-punk writer playing one string of expression.”
(Josef Chuchma, MF Dnes)
Proudy (Streams, novel, 2001)
The author’s latest work captures the story of a middle-aged man in the 1990’s, at the end of the second millennium. This man leaves the territory of youth for ever, loses his imagination and enters the main stream... But the far shore of the river is still out of sight.
Review:
“Kahuda’s openness, especially as regards sex, is the source of many reservations and accusations of vulgarity, but it does strongly correspond with the underground tradition of modern Czech literature. Kahuda’s colourful use of language, exquisitely detailed observation and rich imagination have nothing in common with the so-called ´art of the inane´, with which the main theme of Streams could sometimes be compared. Under these circumstances, Streams is the most sophisticated literature imaginable.”
(Ondřej Bezr, Rock a Pop)
Notes:
Prague´s Twisted Spoon Press is planning to publish an anthology of Kahuda’s shorter prose works (in English).
Kahuda’s works have been translated into several languages (e.g. German, French, Bulgarian, Polish) – in the form of excerpts and magazine articles.
Václav Kahuda has presented his works at several international events, such as the Leipzig Book Fair (2002).
Veselá bída / Merry Misery
Exhumace / Exhumation
Houština / Thicket
Technologie dubnového večera. Příběh o baziliškovi / Technology of an Evening in April. Tale of the Basilisk
Houština /Thicket (second edition)
Proudy / Streams
