Czech: An Essential Grammar is a practical reference guide to the core structures and features of modern Czech. Presenting a fresh and accessible description of the language, this engaging grammar uses clear, jargon-free explanations and sets out the complexities of Czech in short, readable sections. This new revised edition has been thoroughly updated with examples of current usage, additional morphological explanations and an historical overview of Czech as to why two levels - written and spoken Czech - exist till this day. Suitable for either independent study or for students in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types, key features include: focus on the morphology and syntax of the language clear explanations of grammatical terms full use of authentic examples use of basic twenty-first-century English borrowings detailed contents list and index for easy access to information. With an emphasis on the Czech that native speakers use today, Czech: An Essential Grammar will help students to read, speak and write the language with greater confidence.

Czech, the official language of the Czech Republic, is spoken by more than 12 million people worldwide. Since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the country and its capital city, Prague, have become a magnet for international travelers. Their love of the nation and its culture has sparked a growing interest in learning the language, especially in the U.S. This comprehensive bilingual dictionary features approximately 30,000 total entries, with an emphasis on everyday colloquial vocabulary. The book begins with a brief introduction to Czech culture and a concise pronunciation guide. It also includes a section on basic grammar, covering such topics as gender, verb conjugation, and noun and adjective declension.

Czech: An Essential Grammar is a practical reference guide to the core structures and features of modern Czech. Presenting a fresh and accessible description of the language, this engaging grammar uses clear, jargon-free explanations and sets out the complexities of Czech in short, readable sections. This new revised edition has been thoroughly updated with examples of current usage, additional morphological explanations and an historical overview of Czech as to why two levels - written and spoken Czech - exist till this day. Suitable for either independent study or for students in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types, key features include: focus on the morphology and syntax of the language clear explanations of grammatical terms full use of authentic examples use of basic twenty-first-century English borrowings detailed contents list and index for easy access to information. With an emphasis on the Czech that native speakers use today, Czech: An Essential Grammar will help students to read, speak and write the language with greater confidence.

Milan Kundera is one of the few Czech writers with worldwide readership. Often set within a political context, his novels have appealed to readers for their clarity and originality, intellectual flair, philosophical angles, and mythological metaphors. In Milan Kundera’s Fiction: A Critical Approach to Existential Betrayals, Karen von Kunes traces Kundera’s literary aspirations to a single episode in Czechoslovakia in the Stalinist era. This moment attracted international attention when a 1950 police report was released in 2008. Reporters rushed to judgment, accusing Kundera of denouncing a young man, Miroslav Dvořáček, to the police, resulting in Dvořáček’s immediate arrest and sentencing to hard labor. von Kunes debunks this shocking charge in a systematic and thorough fashion. She argues that Kundera reported a suitcase, not a man. Von Kunes further contends that two sentences in the report provide significant insight into Kundera’s novels and plays. She ties his dominant themes of sex, betrayal, and political denouncement to the suitcase, a fatal instrument that can lead to paradoxes and unforeseen and catastrophic coincidences for his characters.