''Marketa Lazarová'' is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

novel, written by

Vladislav Vančura Vladislav Vančura () (23 June 1891 in Háj ve Slezsku – 1 June 1942 in Prague) was an important Czechs, Czech writer active in the 20th century, who was murdered by the Nazis. He was also active as a film director, playwright and screenwriter ...

. It was first published in 1931. The novel was adapted into the acclaimed 1967 film ''

Marketa Lazarová ''Marketa Lazarová'' is a 1967 Czechoslovak Epic film, epic period drama directed by František Vláčil. It is an adaptation of the novel ''Marketa Lazarová (novel), Marketa Lazarová'' (1931) by Vladislav Vančura. The film takes place in the ...

''.

Characters

* Kozlík – Cruel robber baron * Lazar – Robber baron, enemy of Kozlík * Mikoláš – Kozlík's son, who kidnaps Markéta * Markéta – Lazar's daughter * Christian – Son of the lord from Saxony, who's kidnapped by Kozlík's clan * Alexandra – Kozlík's daughter, who falls in love with Christian * Beer – Hetman of the Royal army

Reception

The book was well-received by critics. It was awarded Czechoslovak State Award for Literature in 1931.

Roman Jakobson Roman Osipovich Jakobson (russian: Рома́н О́сипович Якобсо́н; October 11, 1896Kucera, Henry. 1983. "Roman Jakobson." ''Language: Journal of the Linguistic Society of America'' 59(4): 871–883. – July 18,Václav Renč Václav Renč (28 November 1911, Straškov-Vodochody, Vodochody – 30 April 1973, Brno) was a Czech poet, dramatist and translator. Like other Catholic ruralistic writers, his themes included God, traditions and the countryside. Life Renč was b ...

, thought that parts where Vančura broke the

Fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

were intrusive. Others, like A. M. Píša, praised these elements.

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...

wrote about the novel: "In a certain sense the novel is a milestone in Vančura's evolution. Just as scattered rays converge in a single golden strand in the lens of a magnifying glass, in Marketa Lazarová Vančura's creative endeavors converge in a single, undivided stream."

Adaptations

The movie adaptation ''

'' was released in 1967. The film was directed by

František Vláčil František Vláčil (19 February 1924, Český Těšín – 27 January 1999, Prague) was a Czech film director, painter, and graphic artist. Between 1945 and 1950, he studied aesthetics and art history at Masaryk University in Brno. Later he w ...

. Several stage adaptation were produced in Czech theatres starting in 1976. From 2002 to 2004 a version directed by Jan Antonín Pitínský with music by Vladimír Franz ran in National Theatre in Prague.

English translations

References

External links

* 20th-century Czech novels 1931 Czech novels Modernist novels Historical novels Novels set in the Middle Ages {{CzechRepublic-stub