Rudolf Kalčík. Životopisná črta
Rudolf Kalčík. A biographical sketch

Author(s): Martin Tichý
Subject(s): Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů
Keywords: Rudolf Kalčík; biography; Czechoslovakia; 50s; Border Guard;
Summary/Abstract: Author and scriptwriter Rudolf Kalčík could have considered himself a successful writer. However, after his death and mainly after 1989, he was slowly falling to oblivion. Today, the public knows him primarily as the author of the novel Král Šumavy (The King of Šumava), which was preceded by an eponymous movie in the preparations of which Rudolf Kalčík was involved. In the movie, he made use of his personal experience as a member of the Border Guard. In dozens of short stories, mostly scattered in magazines and newspapers, in several novels and scripts he presented a distinct view of the period after February 1948 in Czechoslovakia and the so called security issues, on which he focused as an author. It was this almost ideological distinctiveness which was most likely the reason why his work lost its appeal to readers. However, his legacy, though of varying quality, is an interesting document of the given period.

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