The terrible guest

Fear and terror are with us. They were – and will be! It started with The Horrible Feast (2023), a reading with the subtitle " Fear, Mystery, Horror and Madness in Czech Literature from the 14th to the 21st Century" - and it continues with The Horrible Guest! Of course, in a much more modest range than the chosen medium can handle. But the medium, the ancient cassette, fits this audiobook like a glove. After all, most of those texts have their own age, their own life experience. There is something to look back on; starting with Karel Alois Vinařický through Jan Neruda, Josef Havlík, Viktor Dyk, Maryša B. Šárecká, Ladislav Klíma, Jaroslav Havlíček or Otakar Batlička – after, of course, the truly contemporary Petr Stančík. Of course, horror has different faces here: Genres alternate, vocabulary and style change, and motif emphases change. Sometimes the main role is played by insane human malice, sometimes by the first war, and sometimes by a purely ghostly, dreamlike cut into the taut skin of reality. Simply horrors, personal and superpersonal, external and internal. The tape awakens sentimental moods, but at the same time it confirms the basic, actually instinctive: Fear and terror are with us. They were – and will be! The audiobook contains short stories: KAREL ALOIS VINAŘICKÝ - The Dying Child JAN NERUDA - The Vampire ANONYMOUS: Skull of theater prop maker JOSEF HAVLÍK: Terrible guest VIKTOR DYK: The death of the doll MARYŠA B. SÁRECKÁ: Mother' s Dream LADISLAV KLÍMA: Helena Marná JAROSLAV HAVLÍČEK: Coming from hell JINDŘICH ŠTYRSKÝ: Dream of a hand with webbed feet OTAKAR BATLIČKA: Snake voice ANONYMOUS: Haunted Hotel PETR STANČÍK: Full teeth of meat