Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic or from Smíchov (where he was born in 1871 near Na Knížecí street in a family of a post clerk) was one of the authors of the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century who applied the ideas of decadent styling and poetry in their poetic and literary works. His work can be compared with that of the authors Artur Breisky, Emanuel Lešehrad, Jan Opolský, Karel Sezima etc. Karásek’s later romances and novels are rather neo-romantic, showing the topos of Prague as a magic city, as do also Gustav Meyrink and Paul Leppin. The forced individualism and anti-societal tendencies of Karásek’s belles-lettres and poetry are standing near to the poetics of Ladislav Klíma. In the context of drama literature, mainly of the decadent drama, Karásek’s dramatic methods are similar to those of Jaroslav Marius. The recording is from the current exhibition in Letohrádek Hvězda at Bílá hora and the interview with Karásek is from the archive of Czech Radio. https://lic.ned.univie.ac.at/en