Tales from the Lesser Town

The short story collection, Povídky malostranské (Prague Tales), is the pinnacle of Jan Neruda's prose and one of the most significant literary works in all of Czech literature. The thirteen short stories and novellas, which were originally published separately in various magazines, were compiled by the author and first published together in 1878 by the publishing house Grégr a Ferd. Dattel.

The author drew inspiration for the stories from his memories of his childhood and adolescence spent in Prague's Malá Strana (Lesser Town). In them, readers can immerse themselves in a faithful depiction of the daily lives of both the bourgeois and the common city dwellers in the mid-19th century. His characters are always carefully and thoroughly characterised. The precise topography of Malá Strana, where the stories take place, also plays a significant role.