The revelations of the five protagonists, Sylva and Filip from the Czech Republic, along with their Berlin friends Robin, Niklas and Evita, all offspring of the post-Communist culture of central Europe, comprise the substance of “The Naked”, a novel set in the German metropolis during the dog days of summer when the air reaches body temperature and emotions threaten to short-circuit. During their discussions and encounters it becomes clear that life on the brink of adulthood constitutes a particular state of mind: they all feel “nacked – everything touches them and the touching is exciting and painful at the same time”. This nackedness does not correspond to the time-of-innocence tradition in world literature, which glorified the illusions of youth, because today´s non-idyllic world and crisis-ridden families are oppressive and just waiting to pounce on their mistakes, making it impossible for heroic rebellion against the herd-like life of our civilization. The effective variation of stylistic devices in combination with the symbolic unravelling of classic literary themes for adolescents reveal the deep empathy of Iva Procházková, whose work, due to her own experience in exile, bridges Czech and German literary cultures. The German version version of this book was nominated for the German prize for youth literature (Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis) and the youth jury award (Jugendjury) 2009.
