Friday 21 February 1997

Ladislav Holý, The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation

This is a book review I wrote early in 1997 for what was then the "Britské listy" section of Neviditelný pes, together really the original online news and comment outlet in Czech. (Britské listy parted ways with Neviditelný pes not long after.) I was amazed at the feedback this piece received -- obviously the article had touched a nerve among Czechs, who weren't too keen to examine their nationalism very deeply. Looking back on it, I would say that I was very lucky to meet Ladislav Holý just after this was published and only a short time before he died. He probably taught me more about the nature of Czech identity than anyone, helping me crystalise the muddle of thoughts I had about the place and its people after years of living there.

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Češi mají sami na sebe značně paradoxní názor. Zeptáte-li se jich, co si myslí o jiných Češích, budou je charakterizovat výrazy jako závistivost, konformnost, úzkoprsost a nesnášenlivost (str. 76). Požádejte je však, aby charakterizovali český národ, a uslyšíte slova jako: vysoce kulturní, hluboce demokratický, čistý.

Vysvětlit tento paradox je jedním z hlavních témat nové knihy Ladislava Holého The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation.