Czech Women Writers after 1945

Abstract

After 1945, the continuity of earlier trends and traditions of Czech culture was repeatedly disrupted. Generally accepted values and national myths were changing, and as a result this period can be characterized as one of often conflicting aesthetic and ethical norms. The treatment of women authors is an apt indicator of the various shifts in Czech culture. Since Nemcová, it can be said that men and women contributed equally to Czech prose writing, but, nevertheless, few works by contemporary women writers are considered part of the canon. For instance, in a recent handbook of Czech literature, presenting interpretations of works written in the period between 1945 and 1970, only one woman, Vera Linhartová (b. 1938), is listed.¹ Although Linhartova is undoubtedly one of the most important authors of the 1960s, she was certainly not the only woman writing at the time. Such a lack of critical attention shows that after 1945 women authors were often not considered to belong to the mainstream. There are several reasons for this — a shift in the social structure, ideologization of culture, banning of various types of writing, censorship, the aftermath of war.