“Short Stories from Jaroslav Havlíček: Death, Nostalgia, and Intrigue”

Death of a bibliomaniac

A large part of the literary work of the master of Czech psychological prose, Jaroslav Havlíček (1896–1943) remained in manuscript and was gradually published only after his death. This was also the case with the short story collection Mr. Balabán’s Clock (published by Kruh, Hradec Králové 1986), from which the short story Smrt bibliomanova is selected.

The manuscript of the short story is dated 1928. It tells about the meeting of the soul of a deceased bibliophile with an angel who was supposed to take his soul to the last judgment. The angel found the bibliomaniac’s soul at the moment when she was going through book bindings and leafing through old folios…

God of my childhood

In the short story, Havlíček remembers with nostalgia the time when he was a child; to the sights, sounds and smells in which the God of his childhood was hidden. This good God used to be a reliable bearer of order, which governed the running of the home and the cycle of the year. He provided a background for children’s games and dreams and everyday joys, but he also punished and got angry, but above all he gave hope.

Scenes of snow falling from the roof by the light of a lamp on a frozen window, boys swarming the street with pom poms, and butterflies fluttering on a field in the hot sun are now only bittersweet reminders of a lost past. Adult reason has frightened the child’s innocence and faith and must face anxieties and insecurities. Only in memories does the aged and white God of childhood still rule.

Clairvoyant

The short story Jasnovidka is selected from a collection called The Miracle of Flamendrs, which was published in 1964 in Czechoslovakian writer. In it, Jaroslav Havlíček tells about a table company that met every Saturday in the inn U Beránka in an unnamed city. The director of a girls’ school, a brewer, a woodworker and a former gendarmerie guard played tarot here. One of them has devoted himself to spiritualism and, in order to convince the others that the medium’s speech is no charlatan, he invites his colleagues to his house for a performance by a psychic. Other participants are of course skeptical…

Mr. Balabán’s watch

A watchmaker came to town. Quite strange, I must say. However, Mr. Balabán entrusts him with the repair of his watch after all. After the security guard finds the watchmaker hanged in his shop, Mr. Balabán picks up the repaired watch with a message: „Good man, you will remember me.” What adventure awaits Mr. Balabán? And what does the tramp Matýsek have to do with the whole story? In this story, it will be necessary to carefully monitor the passage of time…

Pilferer

As well as the collection of short stories Mr. Balabán’s Clock, there was also Vzdoropohádky (1954), from which our today’s is selected story, published after the author’s death.

The short story The Thief tells about the unfortunate and not very successful owner of a colonial in a small town and his apprentice Pepíčk, who his relatives try to lead astray.