The Residual Forms in Contemporary Central European Literature
The Residual Forms in Contemporary Central European Literature

Two Case Studies: Bohumil Hrabal and Ádám Bodor

Summary/Abstract: It goes saying that the residual implies many symbolical interpretations and can generate numerous topics that increase its level of abstractness. However, the same term implies a concrete interpretation that might be marginalized by literary critics and literary theorists. As an attempt to stress the importance of the term in literature and, as a consequence, in literary studies, this article signals a specific literary context in which the residual, in its most concrete features - excrements, vomit and other residuals of the body, garbage -, becomes a topos. I will point out several situations within post-war Central European literature in which this topos exists. As part of this endeavor, I will offer a theoretical profile of this topos and I will analyze several specific literary exemples, such as the novel Too Loud a Solitude and the novel The Archbishop's Visit.

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