Memento is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 with reporting elements, written by Czech author Radek John

Radek John

Radek John is a Czech journalist, writer, screenwriter and politician, current chairman of the political party Public Affairs . His novel Memento is the first book examining the drug problem in the context of the former communist Czechoslovakia...

 and published in 1986. The story is set in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 in the 1980s.

The novel is written with literary language with elements of argot

Argot

An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...

 and slang

Slang

Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...

 of drug addicts. It is subjective narration from the point of view of Michal, the main character. The author wanted to warn the public of rising drug

Drug

A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...

 problems in present days. Its importance lies in that it is the first work concerning this taboo

Taboo

A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...

 theme in the time of the previous totalitarian communist regime

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 in Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

. The situation at that time was that the number of addicts was growing, but it had not been publicly discussed. It warns that escaping from problems through drugs will end badly.

See also

• Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (film)
  Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (film)
  Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo is a 1981 film that portrays the drug scene in West Berlin in the 1970s, based on the novel of the same name written following tape recordings of Christiane F.-Synopsis:...