Filip Mikuš
Filip Mikuš (1983) is a humorist, playwright, songwriter and retired poet.
To date, he has published a selection of his song lyrics while working as a playwright, lyricist, librettist and composer. His work is characterized by a preference for bizarre metaphors and philosophy and by imaginative humour, which combines silliness with sophistication, sarcasm with fabrications and a sense of the absurd. Chameleon Exhibition is reminiscent of the most distinctive of Czech humorous literature thanks to the mystifications and self-mystifications that permeate his short stories.
Chameleon Exhibition
November 2023, 200 pages
The Czech Daniil Kharms! Pervasivehumourr accompanied by a satirical barb
Filip Mikuš’s collection of short stories, Chameleon Exhibition, promises not only to please lovers of real chameleons but also to satisfy the adversaries of proverbial ones. A record of a wrestling match, a chronicle of a fictional village, a transcript of a non-conformist radio broadcast? Playful mystification is critical here!
The book’s satirical barb is complemented by pervasive humour reminiscent of Woody Allen, Monty Python and Jaroslav Hašek. Its bizarre logic and experimental nature will remind the reader of Daniil Kharms and Donald Barthelme. The result, however, is not epigonic—it is an unpredictable and eccentric piece of authorship unparalleled in the Czech Republic. Although it might seem the book mainly strives to provide entertainment, Mikuš also accentuates various severe social themes.