Famous as the libretto for Antonín Dvorák’s opera of the same name, Jaroslav Kvapil’s poem Rusalka is an intriguing work of literature on its own. Directly inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s famous “The Little Mermaid,” Kvapil’s reinterpretation adds an array of nuanced poetic techniques, a more dramatic tempo, and dark undertones that echo the work of eminent Czech folklorist Karel Jaromír Erben. All of these influences work in tandem to create a poetic work that is familiar yet innovative. Transposed into the folkloric topos of a landlocked Bohemia, the mermaid is rendered here as a Slavic rusalka—a dangerous water nymph—who must choose between love and immortality. Thus, Rusalka, while certainly paying homage to the original story’s Scandinavian roots, is still a distinct work of modern Czech literature. Newly translated by Patrick John Corness, Kvapil’s work will now find a fresh group of readers looking to get lost in one of Europe’s great lyrical fairy tale traditions.

This book serves as an aid to anyone seeking to perform and gain a deeper understanding of this multi-layered opera, which so trenchantly asks what it means to be human, to love, and to be loved in return.

UNFOLDING THE WINGS OF VICTORY! Humanity is under siege. Strange, hostile beings known only as pillars are stripping away the very life force of the Earth, turning vast tracts of the planet into barren wasteland. The only ones who can stand in their way are the Valkyries, the chosen of Odin himself who fight with his blessing in divine machines that arc gracefully through the air, leading the countercharge of the human race. Even with their support, the fighting is desperate, and hope is hard to come by on the European front. Rusalka is determined to do everything she can to change that as one of the chosen warriors tasked with retaking the skies and bringing humanity back from the brink of extinction!

Moving to Belarus is not a teenager's dream come true. However, sixteen-year-old Wojtek has no choice, because his father received a lucrative job offer there. Perhaps it will help him break free from the memories of his mother's death and start living in the present. Wojtek has no idea that what he will meet at Lake Świteź, made famous by Adam Mickiewicz, will change his life forever.Svetlana dreams of becoming an ordinary girl - going to school, having friends, perhaps falling in love. A seventeen-year-old is disturbed by one fact - she is a rusalka, a drowned girl, a demon who, by its nature, should attract and kill people as soon as they enter her territory. When the paths of the two cross, their lives will change. Their love was born slowly, in unfavorable, in mysterious circumstances. But will it be strong enough to resist the demons and the malevolent forces of nature? The author takes us to the world of Slavic mythology, full of creatures we know from the stories of our grandparents.

In The Witches of Kyiv and Other Gothic Tales by Orest Somov the supernatural is present throughout Ukraine, from a cemetery in Kyivan Rus, to an isolated forest cottage in the seventeenth century Kozak era, to the society ballrooms of Somov’s own world – the early nineteenth century. Gothic horror appears in many guises including witches, warlocks, demons and vengeful ‘rusalka’. Strange soothsayers and malevolent visitors represent the forces of good and evil. In her foreword Dr Svitlana Krys describes Somov “as an initiator of an indigenous literary tradition of the Gothic in the Ukrainian literary canon”. Native folk traditions, ghost stories and European Romanticism are twisted together in Somov’s imaginative tales, most of which are published here in English for the first time.

The stories that inspired Antonin Dvorak's enchanting operas Once upon a time, deep in the forests of Bohemia...enchantment was as thick as the trees, and young men and women of all kinds met and fell in love under the spell of the silver moon. Many years later, Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) set some of their stories to music. As the stories came to life on stage, they found an audience in the hearts of grownups and children around the world. Here are three of Dvorak's Bohemian tales, richly told and lovingly illustrated. Meet Rusalka, Bohemia's own little mermaid; and Lidushka, the peasant who danced with a king. Then there is Kate, saved from certain doom by her own bad temper! Just as in all the best fairytales, love suffers and is rewarded in these stories, and a good heart and quick thinking are enough to win the day. Antonin Dvorak's own life had a bit of a fairy tale in it, as readers learn in these pages. His musical talent lifted him from the shopkeeper's life he was born to, up to the heights of international stardom. But his art was always deeply rooted in the folktales and songs of his homeland. Silver Moon celebrates that wellspring of creativity in a new and luminous way.

When Kat finds a magical whistle that allows her to understand the animals, they ask her to break the curse cast upon the island, but to do so she must overcome her greatest fear.