Josef Nesvadba
Encyclopedia
Josef Nesvadba was a Czech
writer
, best known in the English-speaking world for his science fiction
short stories, many of which have appeared in English
translation.
and was a pioneer of group psychotherapy
in Czechoslovakia.
He originally translated poetry from English and wrote several theatrical
plays
as a student in the late 1940s and early 1950s; towards the end of the 1950s he started writing science fiction short stories. Befitting his background, psychiatry is often a theme in his SF. His fiction typically revolves around such issues as human weakness and divided personalities, with a tendency toward dark humor, irony and satire, as in "Vampires, Ltd., in which cars run on blood. In the 1970s he began to move away from science fiction, which was likely inevitable, as his main interests diverged somewhat from Western views of the genre. From a commercial perspective this did not work well.
Some of his stories were made into movies, e.g. Death of Tarzan, The Half-wit of Xeenemunde, Vampires, Ltd, and Tomorrow I'll wake up and scald myself with tea. In the last of these, which he himself scripted, Hitler and issues of causality crop up. He also worked on several TV and radio serials.
Nesvadba's work directed satirical barbs at the Communist government of Czechoslovakia, as he had little faith in the grandiose dreams of twentieth-century Communism. He agreed overall with a Marxist analysis of things, a viewpoint he maintained even after the unraveling of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
Czech literature
Czech literature is the literature written by Czechs or other inhabitants of the Czech state, mostly in the Czech language, although other languages like Old Church Slavonic, Latin or German have been also used, especially in the past. Modern authors from the Czech territory who wrote in other...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, best known in the English-speaking world for his science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short stories, many of which have appeared in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation.
Biography
Nesvadba had a degree in psychiatryPsychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
and was a pioneer of group psychotherapy
Group psychotherapy
Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group...
in Czechoslovakia.
He originally translated poetry from English and wrote several theatrical
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
as a student in the late 1940s and early 1950s; towards the end of the 1950s he started writing science fiction short stories. Befitting his background, psychiatry is often a theme in his SF. His fiction typically revolves around such issues as human weakness and divided personalities, with a tendency toward dark humor, irony and satire, as in "Vampires, Ltd., in which cars run on blood. In the 1970s he began to move away from science fiction, which was likely inevitable, as his main interests diverged somewhat from Western views of the genre. From a commercial perspective this did not work well.
Some of his stories were made into movies, e.g. Death of Tarzan, The Half-wit of Xeenemunde, Vampires, Ltd, and Tomorrow I'll wake up and scald myself with tea. In the last of these, which he himself scripted, Hitler and issues of causality crop up. He also worked on several TV and radio serials.
Nesvadba's work directed satirical barbs at the Communist government of Czechoslovakia, as he had little faith in the grandiose dreams of twentieth-century Communism. He agreed overall with a Marxist analysis of things, a viewpoint he maintained even after the unraveling of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
Early theatrical plays
- Výprava do oceánie
- Ocelový kruh
- Ráno
- Tři podpisy
Novels
- Dialog s doktorem Dongem (Dialogue with Dr. Dong) (1964)
- Bludy Erika N. (Delusions of Erik N.) (1974)
- Tajná zpráva z Prahy (Secret News from Prague) (1978)
- Minehava podruhé (Minehava for the Second Time) (1981)
- Hledám za manžela muže (I Want a Man for My Husband) (1986)
- První zpráva z Prahy (The First News from Prague), uncensored original version of Tajná zpráva z Prahy(1991)
- Peklo Beneš (Beneš Hell) (2002)
Collections
- Tarzanova smrt (Tarzan's Death) (1958)
- Einsteinův mozek (Einstein's Brain) (1960)
- Výprava opačným směrem (Expedition in the Opposite Direction) (1962)
- Vampires, Ltd. (1964)
- Vynález proti sobě (In the Footsteps of the Abominable Snowman) (1964; English translation 1970)
- Výpravy opačným směrem (Expeditions in the Opposite Direction) (1976)
- Einsteinův mozek a jiné povídky (Einstein's Brain and Other Stories) (1987)
Short stories
- "Pirate Island" (1958)
- "The Einstein Brain" (1962)
- "The Xeenemuende Half-Wit" (1962)
- "Captain Nemo's Last Adventure" (1964)
- "The Last Secret Weapon of the Third Reich" (1964)
- "Vampires Ltd." (1964)
- "The Lost Face" (1964)
- "In the Footsteps of the Abominable Snowman" (1964)
- "Doctor Moreau's Other Island" (1964)
- "Inventer of His Own Undoing" (1964)
- "The Chemical Formula of Destiny" (1964)
- "Expedition in the Opposite Direction" (1964)
- "The Trial Nobody Ever Heard Of" (1971)
- "The Death of an Apeman" (1971)
- "The Divided Carla" (1985)
- "The Storeroom of Lost Desire" (1989)
- "Horribly Beautiful, Beautifully Horrible" (1993)