Zrození šedé z černé a bílé
The birth of the grey from the black and white

Attempting a historical reconstruction of the "grey zone" concept

Summary/Abstract: This study deals with the grey zone phenomenon in the context of literary life under late Communist rule during the 1970s and 1980s in Czechoslovakia. The aim of this text is to attempt to trace, using the method of historical reconstruction, how the concept of the grey zone was understood in Czech and Slovak society before 1989, especially in texts and discussions on dissent and exile that reflected the reality of normalization. These texts show that awarenesss of the grey zone played an essential role in the thinking of dissident and émigré authors, as it challenged bipolar schemes and black-and-white images of social reality in the Czechoslovakia of the time. However, this conception of the grey zone often contradicts today’s journalistic and specialist approaches, which tend to classify the grey zone as a silent or passive majority. This study shows that the definition of what we now call the grey zone was much broader. In fact, the concept of the grey zone dissolves the normative boundaries of ‘us’ against ‘them’ and as an interpretive tool can reveal the often hidden connections between the two poles of the dichotomy.

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