Short stories
Prague Tales
Povídky malostranské
Jan Neruda · 1878
Synopsis
Thirteen tales about the old quarter of Malá Strana. In a tavern, two regulars have shared the same table for eleven years without speaking to each other; a merchant from the countryside opens a groats shop and smokes his meerschaum pipe among his sacks; a little man in a green coat, nicknamed the water sprite, has appraised the collection of stones that makes him pass for rich; boys play at being Hussites and prepare to bring down Austria. The neighbours spy on one another and tell each other stories, and the quarter plays the leading role.
Context
The thirteen stories first appeared separately, from 1867 to 1877, in the journals Květy, Lumír and Podřipan and in the Národní listy, before being collected in 1878 by the Prague publisher Grégr and Dattel. The author draws there on his childhood and youth memories of Malá Strana, where he lived on Ostruhová Street, now Nerudova Street. The collection opens with the longest piece, the chronicle of a house over one week.
Who it is for
Thirteen stories of very uneven lengths. The French edition of 2021 includes eleven of them, the two longest being held back for a later volume.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the summit of its author's prose and one of the major works of Czech letters; it is generally held that Pablo Neruda owes his pseudonym to him.