Asjad, lilled, loomad ja inimesed lastele - Vitezslav Nezval

The outstanding Czech poet Vitezslav Nezval (1900-1958) based his book on his childhood home, the mountainous Moravia of the turn of the century. He was born here as the son of a village schoolmaster, and life here remained for him until his death “a poetry inexpressible in words.”

And indeed, on the pages of this work, the Moravian village of the turn of the century, its “things, flowers, animals and people,” emerges before the child reader of our day. Here are the pen-pickers who tell all sorts of stories at work, here is the sharpener who travels from village to village on his horse, here is the night watchman who blows the horn, and the village sage who collects medicinal herbs from the forests and mountains. For today’s child, who is surrounded at every step by modern technology with its achievements, these professions are the kind that only appear in fairy tales. And most of the things, flowers and animals are known to this young reader more from films and fairy tales than from the reality surrounding a person.

Adults, however, are fascinated by this world, which is presented through the eyes of a child, in the form of concrete images, unexpected comparisons and associations. The admiral butterfly is a “velvet bow tie with a gold pin stuck in it”. The water pitcher is a “large glass bird with a round belly. It has a beak and a giant ear”. The leaf frog is a “smooth green glass typewriter”.
And so we have arrived at the magic that makes this book enjoyable for all readers. This magic is the poetry that runs through the entire work.

Translated and afterword by: Leo Metsar

Original title: Veci, kvétiny, zvirátka a lidê pro déti

Keywords:
czech children's literature
stories