Vila Tugendhat

Pokud se chcete dozvědět něco nového, procvičit si AJ a udělat dobrý skutek, pomožte mi prosím s opravou tohoto článku…

I've chosen the article which name's A BRIT, A BOOK AND BRNO. It's on page 12 and 13 and it's about a book named The Glass Room. The book is written by Simon Mawer. We knows lots of stories which are described as “a classic tale of boy meets girl”. However, The Glass Room isn't definitely one of these. Rather is it an unconventional tale of “man and woman meet an architect, a friend, a mistress and some Nazis”. Mawer's book was published in 2009. It was even made into a film. The film was released in March 2019. This story is not just a romantic story, it also reflects a Brit's fascination with Brno.

If you think that the novel, which is happening in Brno, must have been written by a Czech author, you were wrong. Simon Mawer, the author of The Glass Room, is a British author. He has lived all around the Mediterranean, these days he lives in Rome. So why is he fascination with Czech, specially by Brno? It's result of tourism. ""

He wasn't a writer from beginning. He was a biology teacher the first half of his career. He didn't publish his book until he was about 40 years old. Also he said:""

The Glass Room wasn't his first book. He had written 10 books before. However the book became one of his successful novels.It's a fictional story but it's very closelybased on a real place where well-known people actually lived. The details are similar, especially to anyone who knows Vila Tugendhat and the city of Brno. Landauer House is fictional name for Vila Tugendhat in the story. The architect of the real villa turned from Mies van der Rohe into Rainer von Abt.

The Glass Room isn't Mawer's only book in Czech enviroment. For example his books Mendel's Dwarf and Prague Spring is also books with a Czech connection. Prague Spring is his latest novel and it's about a British couple who stay in Czechoslovakia through the Soviet invasion in August 1968 And what did Simon Mawer say about Brno? ""

The real villa was built for Fritz and Gret Tugendhat. However they lived there only eigth years because they were Jewish so they escaped from Czechoslovakia in 1938. They fled for fear of German persecution. The villa has been a UNESCO World Heritage since 2001. Visitors have to book a tour of Villa Tugendhat months in advance if they want to see it from the inside.

1. the article whose name is…
2. We knows lots of stories
3. Rather it is an unconventional tale of “a man and a woman”
4. the novel, that takes place in Brno,…
5. So why is he fascinated by the Czech Republic, especially by Brno? It's a result of tourism
6. from the beginning
7. it's based very closely on a real place…
8. Landauer House is a fictional name

9. Mawer's only book in the Czech environment
10. … are also books with a connection to the CR
11. a British couple that stays in Czechoslovakia during … (WHO není gramaticky špatně, ale z nějakého důvodu mi tady nezní dobře)
12. … they lived there only for eight years
13. has been a UNESCO World Heritage sight

Thank you very much

It's on page 12 and 13 and it's about the book named The Glass Room.

Je to takhle tedy už definitivně správně?

I've chosen the article whose name's A BRIT, A BOOK AND BRNO. It's on page 12 and 13 and it's about the book named The Glass Room. The book is written by Simon Mawer. We know lots of stories which are described as “a classic tale of boy meets girl”. However, The Glass Room isn't, definitely, one of those. It is rather an unconventional tale of “a man and a woman meet an architect, a friend, a mistress and some Nazis”. Mawer's book was published in 2009. It was even made into a film. The film was released in March 2019. This story is not just a romantic story, it also reflects a Brit's fascination with Brno. If you think that the novel, that takes place in Brno, must have been written by a Czech author, you are wrong. Simon Mawer, the author of The Glass Room, is a British author. He has lived all around the Mediterranean, these days he lives in Rome. So why is he fascinated by the Czech, especially by Brno? It's results of tourism. “Brno was the first place in CR I saw, because I was coming from the Vienna,” he said. He wasn't a writer from the beginning. He was a biology teacher the first half of his career. He didn't publish his book until he was about 40 years old. Also, he said: “It would be a bit stupid to get to middle age without producing anything. So, I simply did it.” The Glass Room wasn't his first book. He had written 10 books before. However, the book became one of his successful novels. It's a fictional story but it's based very closely on a real place where well-known people actually lived. The details are similar, especially to anyone who knows Vila Tugendhat and the city of Brno. Landauer House is a fictional name for Vila Tugendhat in the story. The architect of the real villa turned from Mies van der Rohe into Rainer von Abt. The Glass Room isn't Mawer's only book in the Czech enviroment. For example, his books Mendel's Dwarf and Prague Spring are also books with a connection to the Czech Republic. Prague Spring is his latest novel and it's about a British couple that stays in Czechoslovakia during the Soviet invasion in August 1968. And what did Simon Mawer say about Brno? “I was fascinated by it (Brno) as a city,” told he Radio Prague in 2010. The real villa was built for Fritz and Gret Tugendhat. However, they lived there only eight years, because they were Jewish, so they escaped from Czechoslovakia in 1938. They fled for fear of German persecution. The villa has been a UNESCO World Heritage sight since 2001. Visitors must book a tour of Villa Tugendhat months in advance if they want to see it from the inside.

Já bych teda dal neurčitý člen, a až v té další větě určitý (the book is written by…). Předtím nebylo zmíněno, že ten článek vůbec pojednával o knize.

Ja som myslela, že kniha je presne definovaná. Nie nie je to nejaká kniha s menom The Glass Room. Ale presná tá definovaná.

A classic boy-meets-girl tale
Fascinated by the Czech Republic (jak už jsem ostatně výše napsal), nebo pokud chcete říct, že byl fascinován Čechy, tak “by the Czechs / by Czech people”
the first place in the CR that I saw because I was coming from the Vienna

Nevím, no, z nějakého důvodu mi tam dává smysl oboje. Chtělo by to ještě jiný názor.

1. In the absence of more context, I'd [= I would] be inclined to say “a book”, as DM says, on the grounds of “first mention (of any books)”.
2. At the same time. the book, as Adriana suggests, doesn't shock me. You can justify it on the grounds of:

• defining which book you mean solely by its title, or
• if the article is in a magazine called ‘Knihy’ where all the articles are about books, you're defining which book you mean as distinct from all the other articles about books, or
• you're talking to a group of people who are keen readers, and you think they will already have heard of this particular book, so it's not “first mention”, or
• “books” have already been mentioned: someone addressed the group before you and spoke about a different book, and you want to define which book you mean (as distinct from the other book which has been mentioned by someone else).

3. Interestingly, the thing that bothers me here is “a/the book named …”, which a native speaker would be unlikely to say (though it's not “wrong”, as such). A/the book called/entitled – see here, here and the Ngram here.

So, is it better : it's about a book called The Glass Room?

So, is this better: it's about a book called The Glass Room?

Yes.