Prose

Novella Love in the Time of Plague offers a story of two main characters, professor Cyril Médeus and female student Silvia Atanasevová. By placing the story to the well-known period of real socialism in the 1970s the author explores the boundaries between two phenomena in a literary way.

The author with a sense of experiment draws on everyday situations which he many a time poses as a play with the reader. The problems are a result of bureaucratic obstacles, overcome by backstage acts as well as phenomena of deep psychology, as presented by the short story Balcony.

A fifteen-year old daughter Sajava of the Croatian prince Ljudevit is to marry Zvonimír, the son of the Moravian prince Mojmír in order to solidify the unity of the Slavic people. Before the wedding took place, the whimsical and roguish girl had been kidnapped by Baldrik, the son of the Fuldian prince, who fell in love with her as a prisoner at her father's.

Teasing one's teachers and girl friends among a bunch of pals, carelessly hidden envy, but also dreams and cravings for love. Will the author succeed in avoiding a cliché so that the major protagonist Silvia did not seduce the physics teacher Dodo and did not become pregnant?

Svätopluk experiences the childhood in times when the Slavs get acquainted with Christianity through the Frankish priests. During the games with his peers he develops the characteristics which the future ruler should have – brightness, bravery and power. He shows those characteristics during the expedition into the regions inhabited by mysterious Heruli.

Cossé brings in her every story the realistic view on the status of the writer in consumer society. Revealing its true face the author clearly indicates, that society is not adequately able to appreciate the creative work of writers, whereas royalty almost never reflect the value of literary work.

With a genuine style compelling story, the author won Prix du Roman France Télévision 2000. Claudel has recieved several significant awards and he is nevertheless not lacking a human modesty.

Domino’s novel is the most serious and comprehensive storytelling about the emigration known from Polish literature. It is about the fate of people, who were on the basis the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, displaced by Red Army from east part of Polland to northeastern part of former Soviet Union.

Laurence Tardieu is one of the strong and promising young writer of France having a sense for dynamic and dramatic story. In spite of searing story working with, she writes in an engrossing and simple style, without undue pathos, striking a sour chord.

Yann Andréa was born in 1952. He was companion for life to one of the most significant french writer Marguerite Duras. By a diary form he describes in detail a difficult period of world-known writer, who had to undergo a recovery just before 70.

Marta Świderska-Pelinko, evaluated in Poland as the most cultivated writer among the women authors, presents herself in a book form in Slovakia for the first time. It is her second novel. This bestseller of the contemporary Polish literature was created on the basis of believable facts from which many haven’t been solved by English or Polish police up to now.

The only everlasting story is a one that did not happen – this principle was applied in the literary production, fabrication was in this way closer to truth than uncertain reality. These gloomy stories are not an exception – the higher they are floating in the clouds, the more tightly they are down-to-earth, frequently thanks to the strong social overtones.

Mela, on whom war events left their mark since early childhood, attempts to flee from home where scarcity prevails and decides to marry the officer Jan. Three generations of her family deal with manifold struggles. In the background economic-political changes since the end of the World War II up to transformation of the socialist economy into a capitalist one become visible, which does not leave their personal lives untouched.