Photo: Quintin Lake
Czech Post recently released a special edition of stamps featuring illustrations from Božena Němcová’s novel The Grandmother (Babička) by the Czech-British artist Míla Furstová. The colourful etchings were originally created for the most recent edition of the famous novel, written in the days of Czech national revival. What was it like to illustrate one of the most iconic works of Czech literature? And what were some of the biggest challenges? These are some of the questions I discussed with Míla Furstová, but I first asked her how she herself likes Božena Němcová’s Babička:
“I really very much love Babička. I love the theme of the book, because I myself had a very strong relationship with my grandmother, but I also think that Božena Němcová wrote the book with so much love and intricacy.
“She wrote it at a time when her son died and she needed to escape, and I could really understand that she needed to create something beautiful, a place where she felt safe and return to her childhood memories.
“Also, in the introduction, she says that her own grandmother told her that there was no person in the world that could please everyone and that it would be enough for her if some readers enjoyed what she had written.
See the rest here.
Author: Ruth Fraňková