The Secret of the Czech Future and The Broken Tree

The last few dozen copies are waiting for their readers in this leading Prague publishing house. First of all, we would like to draw your attention to another book by Tomáš Syrováka, a physician and amateur historian from the early days of fact literature. Then, in the following lines, we will introduce an extraordinary translation publication for children who like fairy tales. This unique large-format book, illustrated by children, also includes stories for the youngest readers. And it is a great promise that through reading it and its emotional content, children will gradually find a strong relationship with literature, knowing that there is no substitute for a book.

In his book The Mystery of the Czech Future Comes from the Past, Tomáš Syrovátka builds on his previous title, published by Orego under the title How I Searched for History. In the preface and the conclusion of the book, Tomáš Syrovátka confides to the reader why he is trying to awaken the fading patriotic interest of our general public and especially young people in their own history. He tries to awaken it and strengthen it with excursions to more or less well-known places of our homeland, where history and Czech language teachers are unlikely to take their pupils. He does so in readable language in two dozen chapters with enticing titles, such as:

The Devil's Furrow and Prokop's Mound, František Palacký, The Avars, The Sámi Empire, Knowledge of the Baroque is important for today, Maria Theresa, The Habsburgs and today, Prague's Lesser Town Square and its monuments in the past, Who and why is ploughing up the history of the Czechs and Education is freedom. The list of literature used is admirable, as Syrovátka does not compile, but in many cases even polemicises, as befits an honest literary scholar. This makes his texts all the more readable and rewarding. A nice message in conclusion - all the best for the third time. Tomáš Syrovátka, a physician, is currently working on the third part of his historicizing trilogy.

Please meet

Since the responsible editor of the book The Secrets of the Czech Future Coming from the Past neglected to introduce its author in a short medallion, we do so briefly at least: Tomáš Syrovátka, M.D., physician, writer and researcher in the field of plant cultivation, was born in Prague in 1942. He studied at the Faculty of Science of Charles University, then medicine at Charles University. As a truly practical physician, he combined his two beloved professions - natural science and medicine into a lifelong mission. As a naturalist he focused on the unique cultivation of flowers, vegetables and mushrooms in so-called self-watering boxes or pots.

Whey self-irrigating pots were first produced in the Czech Republic in Vysker near Turnov, from where the water- and labour-saving product subsequently spread all over the world. MUDr. Syrovátka has a unique leadership in this field, crowned by several patents. He has also written and published numerous articles and books on the subject. The first in 1989 under the title Unconventional Ways of Growing Plants and the fifth title in the series published in 2012, Growing Plants, Orchids, Vegetables and Mushrooms. Currently, Tomáš Syrovátka is preparing a new growing guide Home Growing of Mushrooms. In the field of medicine, Dr. Syrovátka also has a number of patents, such as the device for sedimentation of red blood cells, or the discovery of the treatment of tumors by electrophoresis

Another successful publishing venture

The 250th book in the Futura publishing house's editorial order is in the true sense of the word, that when the hand goes to the hand, the work succeeds. In this case, it was three pairs of hands of young authors: Faina Savenko, Ekaterina Shcherba and Polina Burlachenko. Their names suggest that this is a book of Donbass fairy tales and short stories. However, we must not forget the publicist and translator from Russian, Jaromir Vasek, who is an expert on the work of the authors mentioned above and with whom he has a personal friendship. Our thanks go to him above all; without him, it would be difficult to publish such a title in Czech at the present time. A number of the stories were translated by Ivana Blahoutová.

The book itself is a collection of short stories, fairy tales and essays and plays for children and young people. However, adult readers will undoubtedly be interested in what is printed and published in the Lugansk People's Republic and Russia, which is not commonly known in the Czech Republic today.
The inquisitive reader will learn more in the preface by Jaromír Vasek, followed by an introduction of the authors themselves. Then the texts themselves await us, imaginatively illustrated mainly by children. They are arranged in three consecutive blocks - Savenkova, Ščerba and Burlačenko.

Literally endearing is the three-act fairy tale Little Hedgehog of Hope, which seems to be begging for an acting treatment in one preschool or another. Then there's the thrilling three-act play for older children, Die, Monster! The book concludes with The Broken Tree, a social drama of ten acts for young people. Indeed, the book, which we recommend to children and their parents, is more than „just“ a collection of fairy tales and short stories, as the subtitle on the cover, Donbas Fairy Tales and Short Stories, promises. It remains to add that the publication was published with the support of the Czech Foundation 2000. Read more here

Ivan Cerny

Illustration by Studio DUHA of the V. I. Lenin House of Culture in Lugansk

Illustration by Studio DUHA of the V. I. Lenin House of Culture in Lugansk

Illustration by Studio DUHA of the V. I. Lenin House of Culture in Lugansk