Petr Král: In the Territory of Poetry and Art

Prague Writers' Festival: You will be awarded the “Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters” on the 22nd of February by the new French Ambassador, his Excellency Pierre Lévy. Does this medal have a special meeting meaning for you or is it just an anecdote in your career?

Petr Král: I am not a collector of medals and official awards, in the territory of poetry and art it is irrelevant; this one however brings my joy as an acknowledgement of that which I never imagined, and that really has given me an unparalleled opportunity: to spend the majority of life in France, to subsequently adopt that nationality, and eventually to add my own grain of sand to her rich culture.

PWF: You have organized a debate with your friend, the French poet Michel Deguy, about contemporary poetry, for the 23rd of February at the French Institute. What do you two have in common?

PK: A passion for poetry and a concern for its future, which has become a part of our personal effort. Also the review, Po&sie, which Michal oversees in Paris and I myself will administer after the summer.

PWF: How do you regard the poetry scene in France and the Czech Republic? What differences exists between the two?

PK: Both suffer from the same critical phenomenon, born of a decline in readers. In Bohemia, poetry is nevertheless followed perhaps a little more closely with regards to reading; poetry is rather passionately discussed, if only the internet and among (beginning) poets. Secret poetry is certainly elsewhere, offstage…

PWF:You have the peculiarity of writing in both Czech and French. It is a surprising choice because most writers in your position choose to adopt their new language completely; they refuse bilingualism. How did this situation come to be and what does it contribute to your writing?

PK: I rather naturally decided to write in French when I emigrated to France, and rather naturally I nevertheless hung onto my mother tongue, which I carry inside myself anyhow. Even that which I originally wrote in French, I always immediately generate a Czech version – as today I translate my Czech poetry into a French version.

PWF: You divide your work time between many activities (translations, essays, art criticism, poetry…). What are you working on right now?

PK: I am working on a new collection of poetry, a cross section of the poetry of André Breton (the very first in Czech), which I compiled and translated. I’ve also prepared for publication his prose with the title Honey Cones, no less strange than he. Two books especially correspond, the prosaic writing Trompe-l’oeil and the poetic cycle Our Forest is a City.

Interview by Guillaume Basset, for the Prague Writer’s Festival; February 17th, 2010
Translated from the Czech by Meghan Forbes