Poetry
Po nás ať přijde potopa!
Not translated into English
František Gellner · 1901
Synopsis
A young man recounts his nights: smoky taverns, alcohol, love affairs with no tomorrow, brothels, the lack of money. He mocks bourgeois morality, grand ideals and war, does not spare himself, and says all this in simple verse, in spoken language, to the tunes of songs.
Context
The collection appeared in 1901 from the publishing house of the anarchist journal Nový kult, run by Stanislav Kostka Neumann; its author was twenty and drew these poems from his student years in Vienna, from night cafés and cabarets. Critics of the time condemned it for immorality and vulgarity. A second collection, Radosti života, followed in 1903 in the same vein, and several of his poems have since been set to music.
Who it is for
Short poems in rhymed quatrains, in a spoken language in which coarse words appear. No French translation; a few poems from the following collection appeared in French in the journal Po&sie in 2020.
Prizes and reception
Convicted of immorality when it appeared, the book was only recognised after the poet's death; it is one of his two best-known works.