Vaculík, Ludvík | Vaculík, Ludvík 1926–
Vaculík, Ludvík 1926–
Vaculík is a Czech novelist whose work has not been published in Prague since 1969. Even though he has suffered the pressures of rigid censorship, his intention is to "create something beautiful, something inspiring" and to write "as if current conditions did not exist." (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 53-56.)
The Axe is not a political novel, but rather a ballad, in which the character of the father stands out as having almost mythical dimensions. It is no coincidence that Vaculík has set his story on the slopes of the Carpathian mountains, where it is still possible to live in close contact with nature and where traces of an earlier humanity survive despite the onslaught of what goes under the description of modern civilization; the section of the novel dealing with the son's problems in Prague seems rather flat in comparison.
The countryman in Vaculík obviously detests the faceless monster...
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