Petr Král

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Petr Král in his study, 2008

Petr Král (September 4, 1941, Prague) is a Czech writer. Having graduated from FAMU, he worked as an editor in the Orbis publishing house, where he focused on a line of books about film and film-makers. In 1968, he emigrated to France where he worked in a gallery, a photo shop, as a teacher, interpreter, translator, screenplay author, reviewer and so on. In 1984 he lived in Québec. From 1990 to 1991 he was a cultural councillor by the Czech embassy in Paris. He translates from and to French (mainly modern poetry). He edited several anthologies. Since April 2006, he resides in Prague.

[edit] Works

Petr Král started writing under the influence of surrealism, but since 1970s, his books show the fact that being fulfilled is something that the surrealist method cannot provide him. He writes about eternal longing which is being nourished by itself, and perhaps leads to consuming the person who yearns. Král's emblematic words can be: "We don´t die, it´s much worse: we vanish. In other words, we never were. There is no reality." ^[1]

Vlasta Burian (with A. Král), 1969
Prázdno světa, 1986
Svědek stmívání, 1987
Éra živých, 1989
P. S. čili Cesty do ráje, 1990
Právo na šedivou, 1991
Pocit předsálí v aixské kavárně, 1991
Med zatáček čili Dovětek k dějinám, 1992
Voskovec a Werich čili Hvězdy klobouky, 1993
Tyršovské přeháňky, 1994
Fotografie v surrealismu, 1994
Arsenál, 1994
Soukromý život, 1996
Pařížské sešity, 1996
Mramor se jí studený (anthology of the Belgian Surrealist movement, as editor), 1996
Staronový kontinent, 1997
Chiméry a exil, 1998
Groteska čili Morálka šlehačkového dortu, 1998
Praha, 2000
Pro anděla, 2000
Základní pojmy, 2002
Anthologie de la poésie tchèque contemporaine, 2002 (as editor, published in France by Gallimard)
Bar Příroda čili Budoucnost 5 km, 2004
Masiv a trhliny, 2004
Přesuny, 2005
Arco a jiné prózy, 2005
Hm čili Míra omylu, 2006
Úniky a návraty (interview with Petr Král by Radim Kopáč), 2006