Vladimír Páral (*1932), Czech Republic
2016
Lifetime achievements
Vladimír Páral is a Czech novelist known for his uncompromisingly penetrating satire. Páral graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Chemical Engineering in Pardubice. His literary work is often described as a “scientific experiment” in which he places his characters into various situations as if to see how they will respond. One example is the short novel “Fair of Granted Wishes” (1964), the first volume in Páral’s “Black Pentalogy”, which criticized the mechanization of life in modern consumer society. After writing “Lovers and Murderers” in 1969, the regime let him know that any disagreement with the pro-Soviet ideology of “normalization” must disappear from his novels. His later prose writings are popular as well, including “The Book of Pleasure”, “Laughter and Joy” and “Playgirls”. These works explored themes related to sexuality, which were previously repressed by censorship.
