Page:Czechoslovak stories.pdf/116

 The dramas, “Márinka Válkova” and “Olga Rubešova,” both named for their leading female characters; “Rozklad” (Disintegration); “Směry Života” (Aims of Life); “Útok Zisku” (The Assault of Acquisition); “Podvracený Dub” (The Overthrown Oak); “Odpoutané Zlo” (The Unbound Evil); “Přes Tři Vrchy” (Over Three Mounts) and “Démon” (The Demon) reveal him as a profound psychologist. His best plays in lighter, but no less genuine, vein are his “Fialka” (The Violet); “Dědečku, dědečku”. (Grandfather); “Rozveselená Rodina” (The Merry Family); “Lapený Samsonek” (Samson Made Captive); “Mlsáničko” (The Dainty Bit); and “Poupě” (The Bud).

It is Svoboda, the short-story writer, who effectively gives a cross-section of life as he knows it in various fields. The realism evident in his initial collection of “Povídky” (Stories), published almost as early as his first book of poems, holds his readers as strongly as his sketch “Probuzení” (The Awakening), which probes the soul of a student to its depths. The author is not always concerned with the social, national or philosophical significance of a deed, but is often the teller of a story for the story’s own sake.

His scenes and characters are selected from all sorts and conditions of life and are usually objectively presented with much illuminating and lively dialogue. Among his very readable collections of stories are: “Náladové Povídky” (Stories of Moods), “Drobné