When Eve Was Naked: Stories of a Life's Journey

by Josef Škvorecký

This autobiography in stories, When Eve Was Naked , takes us through a most remarkable life, from the innocence of prewar Prague through the horrors of the Nazi occupation and World War II. In the title story, narrated by Skvorecky's alter-ego Danny Smiricky, seven-year-old Danny falls in love for the first time; at sixteen he hides in a railway station and watches as his Jewish teacher is herded onto a train and taken away; and in 1968, as Russian tanks rolled into Prague, Skvorecky flees Czechoslovakia, taking Danny with him. In the collection's final stories, Danny begins his tenure as Professor Smiricky at a Canadian university and attempts to come to terms with the politically innocent and self-centered youth that flock to his courses.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Josef Škvorecký, CM was a Czech writer and publisher who spent much of his life in Canada. Škvorecký was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1980. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country. By turns humorous, wise, eloquent and humanistic, Škvorecký's fiction deals with several themes: the horrors of totalitarianism and repression, the expatriate experience, and the miracle of jazz.

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skvorecky is as master story teller and this book of his shorter fiction does not disappoint. He is whimsical without being twee, deliciously funny and sometimes brings in harsh reality, but even then there is an underlying sense of fun. One of my favourite authors.

Well worth a read

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When Eve Was Naked" is a collection of 24 stories originally published between 1948 and 1996 by Josef Škvorecký. The anthology provides an excellent introduction to the Škvorecký's main themes in the form of a biography of Škvorecký's literary alter ego Danny Smiřický.
The first section of "When Eve Was Naked" called an "Introduction to Life" contains stories about the early childhood of Škvorecký / Smiřicky a period that the author seldom talks about in his other works. The stories here are not particularly memorable but do prepare the way for following segmentssections
The second section entitled the "Thousand Year Empire" tells the story of how the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia puts an end to the the beautiful teen years that that Škvorecký / Smiřicky enjoyed in the Moravian town of Nachod. The town's people were primarily Czech but there were also many Germans and within the German community a large number of Jews. Škvorecký / Smiřicky has friends from all groups. He experiences puppy love . The high point of this stage of his life is playing with his young friends in a jazz orchestra. Then the catastrophe occurs.. Hitler invades Czechoslovakia. The once annoying Germans of Nachod become truly evil. The jazz orchestra is silenced. "Škvorecký / Smiřicky" and his fellow Czech watch helplessly as their Jewish friends are arrested and sent to their deaths. Again the reader is reminded of the "The Miracle Game" and "The Engineer of Human Souls".
A single story described as an interlude comes.
The fourth section of the book called "The Evil Empire" deals with the absurdities and cruelties of life under communism that Škvorecký described in "Miss Silver's Past", the Lieutenant Boruvka and "The Republic of Whores."
A second single story interlude follows.
The final section entitled "All's Well that Ends Well" recounts the life of Škvorecký / Smiřicky as a misunderstood expatriate teaching at the University of Toronto. This phase of the author's life was the subject of "The Engineer of Human Souls" and the "Two Murders in My Double Life". In this final section, one also finds a story in which the author pays homage to Edgar Allen Poe and another in which O. Henry is praised. Here one thinks of Škvorecký's novel, "An Inexplicable Story", which is a prequel to Poe's "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket"
"When Eve Was Naked" also shows Škvorecký's great admiration for the United States of America. "The Bride of Texas" and "Dvorak in Love" are two of Škvorecký's novels where this tendency can be is very pronounced.
Strangely enough, the two longest stories in "When Eve Was Naked" present a side of "Škvorecký" that I have not seen elsewhere. "Laws of the Jungle" is a surprisingly black piece about the young Danny Smiřický who is obsessively in love with a married woman and who refuses to recognize that he is being toyed with. "Spectator on a February Night" is another very unpleasant tale. In it a group of young people make the spontaneous decision to flee Czechoslovakia for the West on the night the communists overthrow the democratic regime of Edvard Beneś. Their motivations are distressingly selfish and immature.
"When Eve Was Naked" offers the reader an excellent overview of the work of Josef Škvorecký with a few interesting tidbits not seen elsewhere. I recommend it highly to his fans and to those wishing to know more about one of the great writers of post-war era.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

These autobiographical stories by Skvorecky serve, at their best, to illuminate the frustrating reality of life in a society that offers few options. Yet there is occasional light and joy, here and there, and the same search for love and purpose that are part of life everywhere. There is also grinding desperation, and the never-ending desire to escape. The best stories, at least for me, are set in the immediate post-World War II years, as Czechoslovakia teeters on the edge, and then falls into, communism. The final stories are set in Canada, where Skvorecky settled after leaving his homeland in the wake of the crushed Prague Spring of 1968. Some familiarity with Czech history is helpful, but not essential.

[Franz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book, which is a collection of short stories and novellas covering Josef Škvorecký's life. Some of the later works, covering his life in Canada, are amongst my favorites. The last story about one of the girls he adored as a teenager, Marie,("A Magic Mountain and a Willowy Wench"), I can't quite work out: is this entirely autobiographical, partly autobiographical or is he taking the reader for a ride? Great story though ...

I have read now three of his books in a row, and will take a break from Mr. Škvorecký
[Reading this book took me some time as we had visitors for most of the May, leaving very little time for reading]

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Eve Was Naked is Skvorecky's selection of previously uncollected English translations of his short stories (there remain many more untranslated), sort of a summing up of his literary concerns, covering the period from the 1930s through the early 1990s. As with most of his fiction, most of these stories seem to have antecedents in Skvorecky's own life, but it is only the poignant ones, about the losses people incur under totalitarianism, that really strike home (perhaps the best in this collection is Filthy Cruel World); the lighter stories are dispensable.

[Moffett Moffett · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite reads. I purchased this book when I was on a visit to Prague. The book store wrapped my book in newspaper and that was the beginning of my joy with this book. The stories are memorable as well as ethical. Loved it.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, heartfelt, and touching

[Maeyu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Czech Republic - series of short stories