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donate Summary of Revolver Revue 67 (2007)
An awareness of responsibility towards language is the subject of three poems by Friedrich Hölderlin, Stefan Georg, and Gottfried Benn translated by Ivan Chvatik. "Looking for and finding a firm base in the works of writers I esteem can be very encouraging", writes Viktor Karlik on the edge of his "Linocuts for reading". Petr Vanous comments on the paintings by Jonas Czesany: "We have before us a civilian world without many illusions." "My father, when he occasionally showed up at weekends and I began our debate by saying that Hitler was a genius and wanted to continue – that he united the nation, gave people jobs, was able to work and understand the subconscious desire of his nation – let forth such a torrent of heartrending blackmail that our political arguments always ended in tears and demagoguery." Miroslav Drabek, member of a theatre group composed of homeless people, recollects his childhood in his extensive book "Alternative service", presented here in an excerpt. "Mourning come too late brings its own form of bitterness", says the narrator of "Funeral lamentations" by Ottilie Mulzet. The protagonists of the short stories by Lubomir Martinek and Pavel Kalina also have reason to contemplate decisions leading to delayed mourning. The "New works" section presents paintings by Ivana Lomova and Lubomir Typlt; another permanent section – "Studios" – reveals Pavel Brazda's working environment. "Perhaps it is this particular despair which is the driving force needed by the director and editor to complete a film", admits Miroslav Janek, director of many outstanding documentaries and editor of the legendary films "Powaqqatsi", "Anima mundi", and "Naqoyqatsin", in his essay dealing with time and editing in documentary film. Frantisek Storm entitled his "Typography notebook" "Courage!" and dedicated it to the recently deceased Josef Tyfa. "I tend to feel a little stressed at the beginning", says Michaela Kukovicova of her creative process. The essays by American poets James Dickey and Robert Lowell that Jan Zabrana intended to include in his famous anthology "How to Make a Poem" are an important contribution to the debate on how an artist can understand his own work. The texts were translated and a foreword written by Petr Onufer, who thus expanded his gallery of distinguished Anglo-American literary scholars and essayists introduced on the pages of RR. Karel Haloun presents another young designer: Jana Hrachova's project is "a duel with an 'enemy'" where the author "brought no weapons but her brains and ideas and decided to use her adversary's own". The constructions created by the painter Jiri Kaloc and the architect Martin Rajnis are different but share a passion that was present at the conception of their works. Roman Laube charts further islands which appeared on the imaginary map of Europe thanks to the Hippie movement and outlines the Independent Republic of Angels. The contributions to the regular critical "Couleur" section also demonstrate how difficult it is for some people involved in interpreting the history of Czech art to "decrease their own significance in their own eyes".
Published 2007-07-03
Original in Czech
Contributed by Revolver Revue
© Revolver Revue
© Eurozine
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