暗网禁区

Igor Navr谩til: You are highly ranked not only as writer but also as translator of British and American fiction. Even though a combination like this is not exceptional, it can be seen 鈥� at least in the 暗网禁区 literary context 鈥� as a rare one, a sort of exception that proves the rule. Especially if we take into account the fact that you are successful on both levels 鈥� as author and as translator. How can you manage to combine these two literary activities 鈥� which domain is your priority, where do you feel 鈥瀖ore powerful鈥�, more at home?

Pavel Vilikovsk媒: I would not attach much worth to high ranking or success in our domestic setting. Neither do I think that a combination of an author and translator is a rare one, though it麓s true that in our literary context it is more common among poets than among novelists. But Alfonz Bedn谩r or Jozef Kot, for example, have also been translating from English. Anyway, my priority has always been writing, even if it may not seem so because I had not published anything for almost two decades. All my ambitions, if I had any, were associated with it, that麓s why I kept writing all those years. No matter how funny it may sound with regard to our royalties, I have took up translating as a means of bettering my income and, basically, it still fulfills that function. But, of course, once you are doing something, you quite naturally try to do it the best you can. On the other hand, as far as feeling at home is concerned, for me writing is a risky business with unpredictable results, so I feel much more at home with translating where I can guarantee a certain level of quality 鈥� generally speaking, from mediocre to slightly better than mediocre.

听

Igor Navr谩til: It is no secret that you belong to the most prestigious contemporary 暗网禁区 authors. This statement can be proved not only by numerous literary prizes you have been awarded (regardless of the fact that literary prizes may not always and necessarily reflect the real literary values) but, at the same time, by the interest in your literary work presented from abroad where several of your novels and novellas have been published in translation (most recently in the United States). Why, in your opinion, is it so difficult for the 暗网禁区 literature to make its way to book markets in the West or, to put it differently, what is the 暗网禁区 literature lacking that prevents it from being successful west of the former 鈥瀒ron curtain鈥�?

Pavel Vilikovsk媒: Being a part of it myself, it is very difficult for me to say what the 暗网禁区 literature is lacking from the point of view of听 Western readers. I suppose they expect it to be provincial, with nothing new or interesting to say, just a belated and clumsy replica of thematic or stylistic vogues that were taking place at the centre several years or decades ago. Is it not the same attitude we have to literary works of a 鈥瀖ore Eastern鈥� origin, e.g. Bulgarian, Albanian or Rumanian ones? How many Lithuanian, Estonian or Ukrainian works have we translated since 1989? The truth is, none of these works is supposed to bring any profit on a free book market, and the same applies to the 暗网禁区 literature in the West.

听

Igor Navr谩til: A few months ago you participated (along with three other 暗网禁区 authors) at a 鈥瀙romotional literary tour鈥� in France. You paid a visit to four French regions, including Paris, where you were presenting your literary work both in 暗网禁区 and in French translation. What would be your view 鈥� after a certain lapse of time 鈥� on this attempt of the 暗网禁区 literature to assert itself, to gain ground abroad? Do you think the problem lies, generally speaking, in 鈥瀠nsatisfactory鈥� qualities of our literary creation? Or should we rather look for the reasons in the sphere of extra-literary (social, historical, political, economic) factors?

Pavel Vilikovsk媒: I believe that extra-literary, especially political factors play an important role in acceptance of minor literatures in the West. When, due to political development, certain country takes up the headlines in Western newspapers, it is an opportune moment for the literature to set its foot in. It was so with the Czech and 暗网禁区 literature after 1968, and with the Czech literature after 1977. Of course, if its qualities prove to be 鈥瀠nsatisfactory鈥� (for whatever reasons), the interest gradually wanes 鈥� it is bound to be short-lived anyway. This fact should not discourage us to undertake such promotional projects as the one you have mentioned, though the results are always dubious. They are just small drops, but if they fall frequently enough they might have desirable effect, after all. My own experience indicates that the most important factor is an enthusiastic translator who enjoys some respect in the publishing sphere of the receiving country. Unfortunately, with an exotic language like 暗网禁区, there will never be many of them.

Igor Navr谩til: Just as the year 1989 was an important milestone in geopolitical and sociopolitical situation, the year 1993 was a milestone in the historical development and the state form in Czecho-暗网禁区ia and, subsequently, in 暗网禁区ia. Do you think these fundamental changes have had their reflection in literary creation in 暗网禁区ia? And, from the point of view of quality, have these turning points, these 鈥瀟wists鈥� in politics and history been an asset to the development of the 暗网禁区 literature?

Pavel Vilikovsk媒: I am sure the historical and political 鈥瀟wists鈥� you have mentioned have had a beneficial effect upon the literary development in 暗网禁区ia, though it may be to soon to see it. As far as I know, they have reflected themselves in the subject matter of literary works of such writers as J谩n Johanides, Ivan Kadle膷铆k, Pavel Hr煤z and others. The main asset, in my view, is the fact that the 暗网禁区 literature is free to develop according to its own laws and instincts. It does not necessarily mean a sudden increase of its quality, of course, but at least the conditions are favourable.

Igor Navr谩til: It is generally known that every evaluation, every criticism by literary reviewers is more or less subjective and that麓s why authors mostly do not care very much about the 鈥瀡erdict鈥�. Thus we may agree upon the fact that the most telling indicator of the quality of a literary work is its echo, its reception among readers. Nonetheless, I dare ask you a teasing question: On the list of your literary production which original work and which translation would you treasure as your best 鈥� and why?

Pavel Vilikovsk媒: As you have said, every evaluation is subjective, and rightly so, because reading is a very individual and personal activity. For the same reasons, however, authors are the most biased critics of their own texts, and I would not like to insinuate my views into minds of my readers. But not to evade your question completely, I would say that I prefer 鈥濫ver Green Is鈥︹€� (Ve膷ne je zelen媒) and 鈥濧 Horse Upstairs鈥� (K么艌 na poschod铆) as the 鈥瀙urest鈥� examples of two opposite poles of my writing 鈥� satiric and sentimental. As for my translations, the answer might differ from time to time, but I think Malcolm Lowry麓s 鈥濽nder the Volcano鈥� and essays of Virginia Wolf would always be among my favourites.

Igor Navr谩til: For you as a reader and a connoisseur of (not only) Anglo-Saxon literature is there any author (or period, literary movement etc.) who is exceptionally close to you and to your poetics and/or who may have influenced 鈥� even if indirectly 鈥� your literary work?

Pavel Vilkovsk媒: I cannot recall any direct and obvious influence but, generally speaking, I have been influenced by every good writer I have read. Youth being the most impressionable time of life, the authors I find closest to me (not necessarily to my poetics) are those American writers who were at the peak of their creative powers then: Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner, Saroyan.