Children's Etudes: 2 CDs

Short stories in which the author reflects the different view of the world of children and adults.

     When in 1955 a small book Children's Etudes was published, it was as if something unexpectedly pure, something that did not meet the requirements of socialist creation, had entered the Czech literary offer of that time. Ludvík Aškenazy ascended into the realm of prose by confiding to the readers his feelings as a newlywed father about his cohabitation with his young offspring. It was non-political, tender, humorous, melancholic and highly poetic writing. It is a wonder how the author, who was educated in Polish schools and returned to his homeland as a soldier in Svoboda's army, could have mastered the Czech language with such virtuosity.

     It caught me as a student at the College of Education. Enchanted by the book, we invited the author for a talk. A little round gentleman came in, not yet marked by writer's fame, sat with us and listened to our literary attempts.

     It was an honour and a pleasure for me that Czech Radio asked me to read Children's Etudes.

Zdeněk Svěrák

  I am listening to Children's Etudes and I thank Zdeněk Svěrák for his unpretentious, civil reading, as if he had taken the hand of Ludvík Aškenazy and his son - the "little man". They are comfortable together on a walk in the park, at home or even on the way to space. They're good together in the world. Let it be to you.

Robert Tamchyna

BONUS:Zdeněk Svěrák's remembrance of Ludvík Aškenazy