A2 devotes a problem to writing by Czech Roma authors, that includes samples from their works, opinions and interviews. Saša Uhlová supplies a brief historical past of the oppression and compelled assimilation the Roma have suffered from 1918 as much as the current, in Czechoslovakia and, later, the Czech Republic, whereas one other Romani skilled, Karolína Ryvolová, talks to author Stanislava Miková in regards to the present state of Roma writing.
Miková, who writes in Romani and has her works translated into Czech, represents the brand new era of Roma writers who’ve just lately come to prominence with works that transfer away from the custom based mostly on oral storytelling. That custom is nonetheless nonetheless very a lot in proof in a number of books printed by KHER – a not-for-profit writer fostering younger expertise and specialising in Romani literature written in Czech and Slovak, in addition to in Romani.
Literary autobiography
Two books on KHER’s checklist are reviewed on this situation of A2: the cross-generational assortment Všude samá krása (Magnificence All Round) provides a barely rose-tinted view of the previous, whereas Velvet Blues, presents tales by youthful writers that mirror the racism and disillusionment among the many Roma group within the wake of the Velvet Revolution of 1989, whereas being stylistically nonetheless steeped within the oral historical past custom.
Patrik Banga, one of many authors featured in Velvet Blues, is the primary Roma author to garner a main literary prize for his autobiographical novel The Actual Means Out. The winner of the 2023 Magnesia Litera Prize for Debut of the 12 months, the e-book depicts the cruel actuality of rising up in a Roma group in Prague within the Nineteen Nineties. Whereas acknowledging the ability of Banga’s portrayal, reviewer Valentýna Žišková is much less satisfied by its authenticity and finds that as the e-book progresses, the writing turns into clichéd.
‘If the writer’s intention is to bear witness to the racism in Czech society within the Nineteen Nineties, the e-book has achieved its purpose. But this can be a activity from which Banga has distanced himself, declaring in a number of interviews that he needs to be seen merely as a author, moderately than a Roma author. That implies that the e-book additionally had purely literary ambitions. Nevertheless, the writer has not managed to stay as much as these.’
Mainstreaming and language
‘Are the Roma going by way of a nationwide renaissance, or the ultimate section of assimilation?’ asks Banga’s near-contemporary Mária Siváková. She is eager to problem the taboos which can be nonetheless prevalent throughout the group, corresponding to brazenly writing about the issue of drug dependancy, or the dialogue of sexuality by ladies, or making forays into style literature.
As Siváková embarks on her first sci-fi novel, she admits that she feels responsible about writing in Czech within the hope of reaching a wider viewers. She notes that the stereotypical picture of the Roma as a nomadic individuals who sit across the bonfire telling tales, singing and dancing is much faraway from the lifetime of the youthful era of readers, lots of whom are not even fluent within the Romani language.
‘My writing has undoubtedly been influenced by the bulk tradition in addition to by the Roma oral custom, however what has performed a far more essential function is my want to display that the Roma usually are not simply the problematic fellow residents acquainted from our TV display screen.’
