Lída Merlínová

Lída Merlínová (3 February 1906–11 July 1988) was the pen name of Czech writer, Ludmila Pecháčková-Skokanová. She began her career as a singer and dancer in the opera theater. After her marriage, she began publishing around 1929. She wrote the first lesbian novel in the Czech language and many of her works were written as inspirational novels for youth. She also wrote biographies of well-known personalities. Her works were banned in the communist era, but in the 21st century, there has been scholarship on her writing and involvement in the interwar period in the movement to gain civil rights for LGBT people in Czechoslovakia.

Lída Merlínová
Born	Ludmila Skokanová 3 February 1906 Prague, Austria-Hungary
Died	11 July 1988 (aged 82) Prague, Czechoslovakia
Nationality	Czech
Other names	Ludmila Pecháčková, Ludmila Skokanová-Pecháčková
Occupation	singer, dancer, writer
Years active	1925–1948
Spouse(s)	Cyril Pecháček

Early life

Ludmila Skokanová was born on 3 February 1906 in Prague, Austria-Hungary. She graduated from the Prague Conservatory in 1925 and began her career at the National Theater as a soubrette. Hired to work in the operatic ensemble at the Municipal Theater in Olomouc, she met the composer, conductor, and pedagogue, Cyril Pecháček.[1] The couple married in an arrangement of convenience[2] and after her marriage, Pecháčkova turned to literary work.[1]

Career

In 1929, using the pseudonym Lída Merlínová, Pecháčkova published the first lesbian novel written in the Czech language, Vyhnanci lásky (Exiles of Love). The book sold out within a few months, prompting fan mail, and praise from other writers, like Jiří Karásek.[3] Throughout the 1930s, she wrote inspirational youth novels, often focusing on adventures for independent modern girls. Some of her works, such as Marie a Marta ve finiši (Marie and Marta in the Finish, 1934) and Činská dívka (Chinese Girl, 1938) had lesbian undertones.[4][2] She was the primary lesbian writer for the journal, Hlas sexuální menšiny (The Voice of the Sexual Minority), and when it changed to Nový hlas in 1932, she continued to write articles on topical LGBT issues, like cross-dressing and finding the strength to overcome the adversity that LGBT people faced.[5][6] She expressed in her writing that behaviors of some of the community made it more difficult for the rest of the community to be accepted by the heterosexual majority and gain full equality in society and before the law.[6][7]

In addition to her children's works Merlínová published biographical novels, including a 1935 work, Zdenin světový rekord (Zdenin's World Record, 1935) about Zdeněk Koubek, who underwent female to male gender reassignment surgery after having won two medals at the 1934 Women's World Games.[4][8] Like her children's works, the novels she wrote for adults focused on emotionally and professionally capable women, and did not shy away from controversial topics.[4] From the early 1930s to 1940, she also taught dance in Olomouc,[9] but in the latter year, she and her husband moved to Dvora Král. She continued to teach dance even after they moved to Prague in 1945 after the liberation of the city.[4] All of her works were banned during the communist period of Czechoslovakia, which began in 1948.[10] Pecháček died in 1949, and Merlínová began a relationship with her female partner that would last until her death.[2]

Death and legacy

Merlínová died on 11 July 1988 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Largely forgotten during communism, she was included in the lexicon of Czech literary figures issued in 2000[1] and in the 21st century has been studied by academics both in the Czech Republic, as well as Britain and the United States, to reassess her literary contributions, as well as her involvement in the movement for LGBT rights that occurred in the country in the interwar period.[7][10][11]

Selected works

• Merlínová, Lída (1929). Vyhnanci lásky (in Czech). Prague: A. Král. OCLC 85288963.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1934). Čestné slovo malého Kádi (in Czech). Prague: E. Weinfurter. OCLC 85696008.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1934). Lásky nevyslyšené (in Czech). Prague: Šolc a Šimáček. OCLC 85525075.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1934). Marie a Marta ve finishi (in Czech). Prague: Šolc a Šimáček. OCLC 85525077.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1934). Milostná píseň Asie (in Czech). Prague: Šolc a Šimáček. OCLC 85525079.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1934). Tatíček Masaryk (in Czech). Prague: Šolc a Šimáček. OCLC 263715434.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1934). Vítězství malého Jana (in Czech). Prague: Ústřední nakladatelství a knihkupectví učitelstva československého. OCLC 85525082.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1935). Bohy Milovany (in Czech). Prague: František Švejda. OCLC 67206733.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1935). Manžel Lydie Ivanovny (in Czech). Prague: Šolc a Šimáček. OCLC 85532820.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1935). Zdenin světový rekord (in Czech). Prague: Šolc a Šimáček. OCLC 85532824.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1936). Muž na stráźi (in Czech). Prague: Československá grafická Unie. OCLC 494098466.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1937). Dobrodruzi sexu (in Czech). Prague: Zápotočný a spol. OCLC 85579042.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1937). Marie a Marta na univerzitě (in Czech). Prague: Šolc a Šimáček. OCLC 85579045.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1938). Čínská dívka (in Czech). Prague: Šolc a Šimáček. OCLC 85610728.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1938). Já a naši kluci (in Czech). Prague: Knižnice mládí.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1940). Bez maminky (in Czech). Prague: B. Smolíková. OCLC 85719663.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1940). Cirkus Darling (in Czech). Prague: Vladimír Orel. OCLC 67206713.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1940). Matčin úsměv (in Czech). Prague: Politika.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1940). Zlatý člověk (in Czech). Prague: Šolc a Šimáček. OCLC 85719666.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1941). Hanka a Milena (in Czech). Prague: B. Smolíková-Mečířová. OCLC 85661975.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1941). Jedna ze sta (in Czech). Prague: B. Smolíková-Mečířová. OCLC 85650209.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1941). Miss Lindy letí přes oceán (in Czech). Prague.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1942). Rodná ves (in Czech). Prague: Nakladatelské družstvo Máje. OCLC 85661980.[4]
• Merlínová, Lída (1947). Jednadvacet (in Czech). Brno: Novela. OCLC 85426947.[4]

References

Citations

1. Forst 2000, p. 240.
2. Cornwall 2013, p. 37.
3. Cornwall 2013, p. 36.
4. Forst 2000, p. 241.
5. Huebner 2008, pp. 179–181.
6. Seidl 2009, p. 288.
7. Seidl 2012, p. 196.
8. Jančíková 2018.
9. Seidl 2009, p. 287.
10. Cornwall 2013, pp. 36–37.
11. Huebner 2016, p. 70.

Bibliography

• Cornwall, Mark (2013). "Exiles of Love: Lída Merlínová and the World of the Czech Lesbian, 1918–1945" (PDF). Book of Abstracts. 20th Annual Lesbian Lives Conference 15–16 February 2013, Brighton. Brighton, East Sussex: University of Brighton. pp. 36–37. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
• Forst, Vladimír (2000). "Lída Merlínová". Lexikon české literatury. Osobnosti, díla, instituce [Lexicon of Czech literature. Part 3. Volume I: M-O] (PDF) (in Czech). 3/I: M-O. Prague: Academia. pp. 240–241. ISBN 978-80-200-0708-7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 June 2020.
• Huebner, Karla Tonine (8 December 2008). Eroticism, Identity, and Cultural Context: Toyen and the Prague Avant-Garde (PDF) (PhD). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2017.
• Huebner, Karla (2016). "3. The Czech 1930s through Toyen". In Jusová, Iveta; Šiklová, Jiřina (eds.). Czech Feminisms: Perspectives on Gender in East Central Europe. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 60–76. ISBN 978-0-253-02193-9.
• Jančíková, Markéta (4 December 2018). "Zdena/Zdeněk Koubková/Koubek". encyklopedie.brna.cz (in Czech). Brno, Czech Republic: Internetová encyklopedie dějin Brna. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
• Seidl, Jan (18 June 2012). Homosexualita vpraxi a diskurzu trestního práva, medicíny a občanské společnosti od vydání trestního zákona zroku 1852 do přijetí trestního zákona z roku 1961 [Homosexuality in the Practice and Discourse of Criminal Law, Medicine and Civil Society from the Enactment of the Criminal Code of 1852 to the Adoption of the Criminal Code of 1961] (PDF) (Doctor scientiarum) (in Czech). Prague, Czech Republic: Charles University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
• Seidl, Jan (2009). "Mužnost jako ctnost uvědomělého homosexuála ve třicátých letech" [Masculinity as a Virtue of a Conscious Homosexual in the 1930s] (PDF). Theatrum Historiae (in Czech). Pardubice, Czech Republic: University of Pardubice (5): 281–292. OCLC 1100081873. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.

Further reading

• Lishaugen, Roar; Seidl, Jan (2011). "Generace Hlasu: česká meziválečná homoerotická literatura a její tvůrci". In Putna, Martin C. (ed.). Homosexualita v dějinách české kultury (in Czech) (1st ed.). Prague: Academia. pp. 209–280. ISBN 978-80-200-2000-0.