Untitled Page

English translation of an Internet letter

Author: Josef Zemek (Josef Zemek is a nephew of Anna Marik, maiden name
Anna Zemek, aka Anna Slintak)

How to live? Not like this. Josef Zemek

During the March celebration of my grandma’s ninetieth birthday, a few copies of a book Jak zit (‘How to live’) all of a sudden showed up there. Those who did not read it took it to their hands and a debate started concerning the book that would otherwise be forgotten.

I don’t know how the family learned about the existence of the book – obviously my aunt from Vlcnov discovered it in a bookstore when looking for a gift. My father learned about it from her and he told me to get it. I’ve got it from an Internet bookstore without problems, like tens of other books, therefore it never occurred to me to open it immediately, but as soon as I learned what is it all about, author’s name caught my attention.

Neither Mariks nor the publisher informed me or anybody else from my family. They knew why not.

I know it is beneficial when one generation of a family leave behind a lasting memory, chronicle, history, etc. It is a wonderful idea, but . . . . expectations of a corresponding nice reading died quick. Besides that (not fully realized) idea I found NOTHIG nice there.

The picture on the title page shows biographical wandering of my aunt Anna. But why there is not a panorama of Vlcnov at the beginning of the road or something else that is typical of Moravian Slovakia – a vineyard or an old wine cellar, perhaps.

On the last page, there is a note the book is the literature of the fact. That should not happen. The book is a mixture of incongruous texts that often incline to a lyrical presentation but the exact facts are obscured. On top of it, there are serious photographic errors in the book. A future member of our family who was in Vlcnov a few times recognized some of them during the first reading of the book. What is there to say? On top of it, many events are concealed; the same applies to some members of our family, and, therefore, the book, instead of being objective as proclaimed, is tendentious.

(This paragraph deals with Czech grammar and therefore is skipped. Some other paragraphs dealing with various ‘Czech things’ are also skipped.)

On pages 49 and 117 is stated that aunt Mana completed Economics University. She, and her grandma, would like it very much, should that be the fact, but socialist knaves prevented it. Jena does not seem to be as he is described on pages 176-7. The name Blanka is used for a person that has the same name as my cousin, and who will not notice that, he will learn about Blanka some slanderous things. Grandma and grandpa are presented as biggest farmers in Vlčnov.

Some of us took it upon selves to prepare stories or pictures for the book. None knew its purpose or its object, but at the end those stories are either not included in the book or they are altered beyond recognition.

When the bubble started to burst, Grandma received the letter of ‘apology’ from the author of the book. I recommend reading it.

The book did not create favorable impression. Well, if somebody decides to present the life of one’s own family, it is desirable to bring it to the finish and not to charge with it people who have never been in the countryside of the youth and the childhood of that family . . .

Josef Zemek
April 28, 2007