Abstract
Belgian literature written in French has an advantage in the Czech book market because French and francophone literature already have a secure place in it. Belgian literature is, however, overshadowed by this dominant French literature.
Emphasizing the Belgian origin of an author may thus be completely devoid of meaning or, on the contrary, create a feeling of the unknown. While surrealism or Tintin have a fairly well-defined group of readers, individual authors may be lost in the overproduction of the book market and being labelled as "minor literature" is therefore not an advantage for them.
Thus, translators have a significant role in bringing new authors to the Czech literary scene. A quantitative analysis of the bibliographic corpus provides an account of how interest in Belgian authors has developed.
The analysis also emphasizes that the golden age of authors such as De Coster or Lemonnier has passed, yet Simenon, for example, is still being published, following a 30-year break caused by Nazi and later Communist censorship. It is also evident that the authors "consecrated" by French (Parisian) authorities automatically have a better position in the Czech market.