''Wild Bára'' () is a 1856 romantic short story by

Božena Němcová Božena Němcová () (4 February 1820 in Vienna – 21 January 1862 in Prague) was a Czech writer of the final phase of the ''Czech National Revival'' movement. Her image is featured on the 500 CZK denomination of the Česká koruna. Biography ...

with elements of fantasy. It is a story of a village girl, who is nice and cheerful, but her courage, independence and unusual appearance do not meet the expected stereotypes and she is not accepted by the superstitious villagers.Česko mezi řádky: Divá Bára, Vestec a Božena Němcová
/ref>

Plot

Bára was single child of a shepherd Jakub whose wife died a long time ago. Soon after the childbirth a mysterious accident happened to her mother: she was cooking when she was six weeks after the childbirth and supposed to be in bed, and was found fainted. Since this happened right at the high noon, villagers started to suspect that the girl was a "wild child" brought by a noon witch: they decided that she has too big eyes, too big head, etc. This is how she got her nickname, Wild Bara. Bára grows up as a good-natured girl, but her independence and unusual behavior are met with the prejudice from the villagers. A strong and emotional friendship develops between Bára and priest's daughter Elška. Elška falls in love with a medical student from Prague, but she had to marry the manor steward Sláma. Bára decides to help Eliška. She plans to pretend to be a ghost at the cemetery and scare Sláma to leave Eliška alone, but the villagers discover the ruse and punish Bára by locking her in the cemetery chapel for a night. Eventually all comes to a happy end for Bára and her friends.

Commentary

Dáša Francíková cites ''Wild Bára'' as an example of intimate and strong bonds between women in Božena Němcová's novels, summarizing the relationship of Bára and Elška. Alfred Thomas argues that the two contrasting characters of the two heroines (plain and masculine Bára and pretty and feminine Elška) "reflect the two halves of writer's identity".

Adaptations and translations

Anna-Kaderabkova-Marjanka-Diva-Bara-1949-square-a

*'' Divá Bára'', a 1949 film by

Vladimír Čech Vladimír Čech (6 July 1951 – 22 March 2013) was a Czech actor, presenter and politician. Early life Čech was the son of anchorwoman Heda Čechová (1928–2020) and actor of the same name, Vladimír Čech (1916–1990). In 1977, Čech g ...

* ', opera, Op. 82 (1957) by Russian composer Anatoly Alexandrov * In 2014 a musical was staged with music by and Leoš Kuba, libretto by

Milan Uhde Milan Uhde (born 28 July 1936 in Brno) is a Czech playwright and politician. He is a member of the Civic Democratic Party. Uhde previously worked at a literary journal, but the publication was banned in 1972. He signed the human rights Charter 7 ...

, starring Žofie Dařbujánová. It was translated into Russian as ' in 1854 and in 1984Божена Немцова. Дикая Бара
/ref> and in German as ''Die wilde Bara'' in 1962.

Notes

References

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Plot

Commentary

Adaptations and translations

Notes

References

Further reading