Stínadla: mestská štvrť ako priestor tajomstva a dobrodružstiev alebo prečo Rychlé šípy nemožu nikdy nakresliť mapu Stínadiel
Stínadla: the suburb as a space for mystery and adventures; or, Why Rychlé šípy can never draw a map of Stínadla

Summary/Abstract: This study analyses the chromotope of the suburb of Stínadla (“The Shades”), which plays a key role in the narrative organization of the cult “Stínadla” trilogy by Jaroslav Foglar, comprising his novels Záhada hlavolamu (Mystery of the Conundrum, 1941), Stínadla se bouří (The Shades in Revolt, 1947) and Tajemství velkého Vonta (Secret of the High Vont, 1986). The spacial structure of the trilogy’s text is divided into two spheres — the suburbs separated by a boundary, with their distinctive structure. By crossing this boundary the boys in the Rychlé šípy (“Rapid Arrows”) gang enter Stínadla, a labyrinthine chronotope with radically different rules, a dangerous unknown space where they lose their bearings and continually find themselves in danger. The labyrinthine topology of Stínadla impedes the gang and causes them to get lost. As they are escaping, Rychlé šípy come across transverse passageways between individual locations. The atmosphere is another stylistic and motif-based emanation of the Stínadla chronotope. The chronotope textually constructed in this manner helps to generate the mysterious adventure story: as by crossing the boundary and infiltrating the Vont community the protagonists find themselves encountering a space where they generate the events of an adventure story. Another emanation of this chronotope is the special caste of boys who inhabit this space — the Vonts, whose character is determined by the topography and architecture of this labyrinthine suburb. The Vonts’ organization is structured on the model of a secret society with sacralized rituals. The “hedgehog in a cage” conundrum as a talisman is a sacral object symbolizing power and safeguarding unity within Stínadla. It is a mysterious object, a quest object, which sets the story in motion, as well as an object with a market value (an invention). In the trilogy the Stínadla chronotope generates three analogous plots, each of which is a mystery story built on the structure of an investigation, a quest for a mysterious object and the revelation of a dark tale from the past, in each of which the motif of the tragic demise of a boy plays a role, together with the mystery of his death and the notes he wrote before his death. The demonic Stínadla even has a destructive effect upon the Rychlé šípy boys themselves, sowing discord amongst them and an atmosphere of suspicion. For example, this chronotope even generates a dark doppelgänger of the exemplary Mirek Dušín.

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