Ateliers and en plein-airs in the Prose of Bohumil Hrabal Cover Image

Ateliery i plenery w prozie Bohumila Hrabala
Ateliers and en plein-airs in the Prose of Bohumil Hrabal

Author(s): Wojciech Soliński
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Czech Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku
Keywords: atelier; en plein-airs; autobiographical locations; symbolic space; artistic space

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the emotional aspect of autobiographical places in the works of Bohumil Hrabal. Its author observes that both the short and the long prosaic forms by the Czech writer are often set in the space stretching between ateliers of pubs and en plein-airs of Nymburk on the Elbe River (“the town on water”), forests of Kersko, and the degraded smelter plant Krásná Poldi in Kladno. The list of Hrabal’s locations does not end here and also includes the “borderland areas”, such as the control room and platforms of the railway station in Kostomlaty nad Labem; the basement of the wastepaper warehouse in Spalona Street in Prague (and pubs nearby); the author’s flat (which had neither windows nor a toilet) located at 24 Na Hrázi (Věčnosti) Street and many other streets leading directly to the Svět pub Special attention is also given to a place that the author had never visited – Drohobych, but got to know through the prose of Bruno Schulz.

  • Issue Year: 2019
  • Issue No: 15
  • Page Range: 33-44
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Polish