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donate Summary of Revolver Revue 70 (2008)
This year's first – and in total the seventieth – issue of Revolver Revue opens with Norman Podhoretz's essay "In defence of editing" in which the American critic, in Petr Onufer's translation, declares that "every magazine that deserves the name has a character, a style, a point of view, a circumscribed area of concern, a conception of how discourse ought to be conducted; if it lacks these things, it is not a magazine but a periodical anthology of random writings". Although this statement comes from 1965 Podhoretz's thoughts are supremely up-to-date: besides other, also as a contribution to the continuous discussion on the criteria serving as a tool for evaluation of the significance of cultural periodicals.
Not many of the twentieth century writers invited such an enthusiastic and at the same time averse reception as Louis Ferdinand Céline. His Journey to the End of the Night, which is today considered alongside Joyce's and Proust's work to be one of the most important works of European modernism, has been articulately and congenially translated by Jaroslav Zaorálek. The Czech translation was the first ever foreign language version of the Céline's text and this year we celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of its publication which coincided with Céline's then visit to Prague. We return to this event in a text collage entitled "Céline in Bohemia" prepared for Revolver Revue by Anna Kareninová. This commented collection of correspondence and period news reports, reviews, and studies can be read not only as a notable contribution to the issues related to the reception of Céline's work, but also as a testimonial of the standards of the Czech literary scene and cultural writing since the 1930's until today. Special focus is placed on the writer's visit to Bohemia in the summer of 1933 and his contacts with the Czech environment. Wider elaboration on the theme of Céline in Bohemia is being prepared in the form of a book for the Revolver Revue edition.
Fine Art and Design in the seventieth issue of Revolver Revue: Paintings by Igor Korpaczewski who, as noted by Petr Vanous, "did not choose an extensive path but the intensive one" and "stuck to figurative painting in order to explore the abundance of expression hidden therein." Sculptures and objects by Petr Cisarovsky who believes that "art always possesses some breakneck hope". Jan Faukner's London photography who, according to Viktor Kolár "pointed his camera to those who appear intelligent, demanding and heading somewhere". Mobile objects by Jiri Novák are discussed in the interview with Zdenek Lukes as well as his participation at the legendary Brussels Expo fifty years ago. "The typography notebook" by Frantisek Storm looks at a brand new font which has a certain connection with drinking lager in Sankt-Gallen in Switzerland. The studio of Katerina Stenclová is an "exterior in interior".
You will also find the Documentarist-section where Adam Gebert introduces Kristina Vlachová; a traditionally critical Couleur with reflections on a new book by Petr Placák; a retrospective exhibition of works by Emil Filla, Havel's play Odcházeni, Czech film Václav or on the "helpful lesson of Hungarian for beginners"; a contribution on "competition in Bohemia" and much more.
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Published 2008-04-08
Original in Czech
Contributed by Revolver Revue
© Revolver Revue
© Eurozine
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