Petr Onufer (born 1976) is a Czech critic, translator and journalist. He studied Czech and English at Charles University in Prague and the University of Texas at Austin. Petr currently works as the editor-in-chief of Plus Publishing, an imprint of the largest Czech publishing group Albatros Media, and contributes to Revolver Revue, a leading Czech literary journal. His translations include novels by William Faulkner, Jack Kerouac and Michael Chabon; poetry collections by Richard Wilbur and Robert Frost (forthcoming), books of literary criticism and theory by Terry Eagleton and Wolfgang Iser. Petr is the editor of the first Czech anthology of American literary criticism, published in 2010. Searching for Contexts of Anglo-American Literature is Onufer’s most recently published book of essays on American literature which will be published by Charles University Press in 2011.
Profession
Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Department of English and American Studies
Education
Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague
2004–present: Ph.D. Studies, Department of English and American Studies, to complete in 2010.
1994–2001: M.A. (summa cum laude), Department of Czech Language and Literature
1994–2000: M.A. (summa cum laude), Department of English and American Studies
January 2000 – June 2000: University of Texas at Austin; courses taken: American Novel after 1920; Contemporary American Short Story; Communication Theory
January 2004 – June 2004: University of Texas at Austin; courses taken: Modernist Poetry: Crane, Bishop, Wilbur; Conference Course in Czech Fiction; Literary Theory; Central Europe in the 21st Century
Teaching
2003– present: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Department of English and American Studies (courses taught include: Selected Chapters of American Literary Criticism; The Beat Generation; Is Dylan Poetry?; Early American Literature)
2000–2007: College of Journalism, Prague (selected courses taught: Media English, Modern Anglo-American Literature, Literary Translation, Media Reflection of Music)
Writing & Journalism1996 – present: contributor to a wide range of journals and reviews including Revolver Revue, Souvislosti, Literární noviny. See
Appendix 1/Bibliography.
The Movie:
Walking Too Fast: A Film by Radim Špacek
The major event of the 2010 Czech cinema, and the most critically acclaimed Czech film of the last two decades. Set in 1982, in the grey, dull timelessness of the Communist regime, the film tells the story of Antonin Rusnak, agent of the almighty secret State Police who suddenly feels “breathless,” much like the protagonist of the famous 1960 Godard movie, getting bored and disgusted with everything around himself, including his work and family life. On the job, spying on young, innocent Klara, he becomes obsessed with her; although, he knows all too well he could never be with her. His burning obsession turns him against himself as well as against the system and the world. With its omnipresent sense of anxiety and menace, the story is not a political one; in spite of its setting, it speaks a universal message.