Authors

Discussion

This paper offers the first analysis of the vivid novel Město můžu (City of Men) by Eduard Weingárt. Published in 1931 in 800 copies, it was publicized in the homosexual journal Hlas sexuální menšiny and quickly sold out. The novel relates the miserable condition of disrupted homosexual lives, and was reviewed at the time as socially ‘realistic’. Nevertheless, there is much in its presentation which is deceptive. Firstly, the author ‘Eduard Weingárt’ was a pseudonym for the Czech female activist Jana Mattuschová (1906-2000) who was prominent in Hlas and in the wider emancipatory movement of the 1930s. Although she was twice married and divorced, she seems to have identified as lesbian (but ‘Weingárt’ hints at a transgender identity too). The novel therefore offers us insights into her own gender and sexuality, as well as supplying a Czech perspective on the ideal same-sex relationship. Secondly, although the novel is set in an unknown German city, it seems highly likely to represent Prague where Mattuschová was based for most of her life. The paper explores the degree of urban realism when set against what we know about Czech queer lives of the 1930s. It also advances our understanding of a little-known author who after 1945, as a communist, wrote books for children under the pseudonym Hana Klánová.