Ludvík Souček
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Ludvík Souček (17 May 1926 – 26 December 1978) was 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 *Czech (surnam ...
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
writer.


Biography

Born at
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, he graduated at Medical faculty of
Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...
in Prague as a dentist in 1951 and started his professional life at the dental clinic as an assistant. Later, he joined the military (1954) and became an officer. He spent two years (1954–1955) in
Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
as a member of the Czechoslovak military mission in Korea (1952–1956) after
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
. Next, he was employed as a dentist in the Central Military Hospital in Prague (1955–1964), then served at Czechoslovak Ministry of National Defence (1964–1968). He shortly worked at the Central Committee KSČ (
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...
) (1968). The same year he was employed in the military redaction of the Czechoslovak Television as an editor (1969–1971) and later in the Albatros publishing house (1971–1976). Because of serious disease, he went into disability pension in 1976. He was a member of KSČ (
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...
) all his life, and the ideology definitely profoundly influenced his literary work. In spite of his deep communist persuasion, Souček arguably remains the most popular and most widely known author of Czech
Science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
.
Non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...
is one of the most important elements in Souček's writings. Souček is actually best known as the "Czech Erich von Däniken". His books of "Portents" (''Tušení souvislosti'', 1974, ''Tušení stínu'', 1978) are collections of Däniken-styled non-fiction essays on striking, surprising, obscured, or otherwise "not-yet" explained facts from the history of mankind, which are indeed hard to impossible to explain either given the present day scientific knowledge or our assumptions on the scientific knowledge or technology level of ancient civilizations. Similarly to his forerunner Däniken, Souček hinted that cultural and architecture phenomena (such as megaliths of
Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...
) some natural catastrophes (such as
Tunguska event The Tunguska event was a large explosion of between 3 and 50 TNT equivalent, megatons that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate (now Krasnoyarsk Krai), Russia, on the morning of 30 June 1908. The explosion over ...
), mythologies and biblical histories (such as the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah In the Abrahamic religions, Sodom and Gomorrah () were two cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah are repeatedly invoked throughout the Hebrew Bible, Deuterocanonical texts, and the New Testament as symbols of sin, di ...
) can be best explained through an alien, extraterrestrial intervention. Unlike his predecessor, Souček does not push the idea of an alien intervention too hard, he gives ample space to alternative explanations and never actually states that it must have been "them". Souček's essays also have rather high scientific standard and contain good discussion of relevant published sources. Science fiction trilogy of "Blind Birds" (''Cesta slepých ptáků'' 1964, ''Runa rider'' 1967, ''Sluneční jezero'' 1968) contains a very strong non-fiction element and it should be seen as continuation of the best Czech Science fiction tradition. Souček's "Blind Birds" actually mimic the method and composition of " War with the Newts, 1937" (translation of ''Válka s mloky'', 1936) by
Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright, critic and journalist. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum' ...
. Both Čapek and Souček initiate their plot deeply rooted in the present day setting (Čapek 30s, Souček 1960s) and both of them keenly criticize the present day social and political reality. Souček builds a virtuous mixture of scientific fact and made up archeological discoveries in France,
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
,
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, and
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
. Both Čapek and Souček develop the fantastic element only very slowly, starting with the very sober 1st book, accelerating in the 2nd, and culminating in the 3rd book as hard SF par excellence: The victory of Newts and near extinction of human race, Čapek; International (both western and communist powers collaborate) discovery and rescue mission to Mars, Souček.


Selected bibliography

* 1951 ''Hrajeme maňáskové divadlo'' (about puppet theater) * 1962 ''Hrátky kolem křižovatky'' (for children) * 1963 ''Jak se světlo naučilo kreslit'' (about photography) * 1964 ''Cesta slepých ptáků'' (SF, further ed. 1976, 1989 and 1999) * 1965 ''Krotitelé ďáblů'' (adventure) * 1965 ''Co oko nevidí'' (about photography) * 1966 ''Cesta k moderní fotografii'' (about photography) * 1967 ''Cesta slepých ptáků II. Runa rider'' (SF, further ed. 1976 and 1999) * 1968 ''Cesta slepých ptáků III. Sluneční jezero'' (SF, further ed. 1976 and 1999) * 1968 ''Případ ztraceného suchoplavce'' (ft. Martin Anděl, detective) * 1969 ''Bratři Černé planety'' (SF short stories) * 1970 ''Operace "Kili"'' (SF short stories; part of the distribution banned) * 1970 ''Záhada S M'' (a theater play) * 1970 ''Případ Jantarové komnaty'' (SF, ft. Martin Anděl, detective, further ed. 1990) * 1971 ''Fotografujeme na cestách'' (about photography) * 1972 ''Případ baskervillského psa'' (SF, ft. Martin Anděl, detective) * 1972 ''Pevnost bílých mravenců'' (SF) * 1973 ''Zájem Galaxie'' (SF short stories) * 1974 ''Blázniví vynálezci'' (about "crazy inventors") * 1974 ''Tušení souvislosti'' * 1975 ''Co zavinil Gutenberg'' (about book printing) * 1976 ''Rakve útočí'' (about the armored ships CSS ''Virginia'', and in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
) * 1978 ''Tušení stínu'' * 1980 ''Blázni z Hepteridy'' (SF, further ed. in 1986 and 2000) * 1983 ''Bohové Atlantidy'' (SF, further ed. v roce 2000; English translation
''Gods of Atlantis''
2024) * 1985 ''Hippokratův slib'' (SF short stories, further ed. 1997)


Sources

* Ondřej Neff: ''Literární sopka Ludvíka Součka'', in ''Něco je jinak'', Albatros, Praha 1981, s. 285 - 305. * František Novotný: ''Tlustý muž, který se smál'', in: Ludvík Souček: ''Po stopách bludiček'', AF 167, Brno 1992, s. 11 - 63. {{DEFAULTSORT:Soucek, Ludvik 1926 births 1978 deaths Czech male writers Czechoslovak science fiction writers Czechoslovak Army officers Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members Czech dentists Charles University alumni Czech military doctors