Search results for: Danziger Trilogie in All Content

Death as a Semiotic Event: Mácha, Němcová, Neruda, Hrabal, and Kundera

Smrt jako sémiotická událost: Mácha, Němcová, Neruda, Hrabal a Kundera

Author(s): Bronislava Volková / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 6/2006

Keywords: Semiotics; Karel Hynek Mácha; Božena Němcová; Jan Neruda; Bohumil Hrabal; Milan Kundera

This article further develops the author’s previous investigations of Czech literature from the point of view of the values reflected in it, see for example, her Semiotic Odyssey through Czech Literature (1997). It compares the approach to death in some important Czech works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. First, she compares the conception of death in Karel Hynek Mácha’s Máj (1836) and Němcová’s Babička (1855) and comes to the conclusion that although Němcová does not express fear of death like Mácha does, she subconsciously reflects a certain trauma, characteristic of society of the time and projects that trauma into the character Viktorka, the outcast. She then points out the unexpected similarity between Mácha and Němcová in the relationship between death and sexuality. Both Mácha’s hero and Němcová’s Viktorka meet violent deaths in consequence of a mistaken sexual relationship, cheated by their lovers. Death is thus directly related to the absence of love. The only difference is that Mácha is in this respect critical of the role of society, whereas Němcová passively accepts it. The next part of the article analyzes the conception of death in Jan Neruda’s Povídky malostranské (1878). It argues that here death is a regular everyday matter, usually accompanied by the indifference of the deceased’s neighbours and kin and sometimes even caused by their cruelty. It has no concealed symbolic value as it does, by contrast, in Mácha and Němcová. Neruda presents death as a realistic external observer. The last part analyzes the conception of death in works by Bohumil Hrabal and Milan Kundera and distinguishes between innovative values incorporated into different works by these two authors and values passively accepted from the society’s code of the time. On the whole the author concludes that the approach to death is contingent on individual and period styles and social values characteristic of a particular area, time, and social strata, as well as on personal approach and experience, indeed even on the age of the authors at the time they were writing. The article points out that contemplating death as a semiotic event mandates consideration of the semiotics of the narrator’s life.

Unreliable Narration and an Impossible Fictional World: Daniela Hodrová’s Podobojí

Nespolehlivé vyprávění a nemožný fikční svět: Podobojí Daniely Hodrové

Author(s): Lubomír Doležel / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 1/2012

Keywords: unreliable narration; logically impossible fiction world; point of view; Hodrová; Daniela

This article seeks to clarify aspects of unreliable narration, using the example of Daniela Hodrová’s novel Podobojí (In Both Kinds, 1991). The author recapitulates the shift in his own conception of the narrator, originally presented in ‘Typology of the Narrator: Point of View in Fiction’ (1967) and Narrative Modes in Czech Literature (1973), respectively. Rejecting the notion of personalized narrator, the author accepts Tomáš Kubíček (Vypravěč, 2007) conception of the narrator as ‘textual strategy’. The advantages of this conception most clearly appear in the analysis of modern and postmodern narratives which resist the anthropomorphization of the narrator. The unreliable narration appears in several forms, but its most palpable manifestation is the creation of logically impossible fictional worlds. The fictional world of Podobojí, which is probably the first fictional world of this kind discovered in Czech fiction, is logically impossible for it contains or implies logical contradictions. Most visible of them is the neutralization of the opposites ‘living’ and ‘dead’ in the fictional entity ‘the undead’. The logically impossible fictional world can be imagined, but cannot be textually authenticated, so the authoress of Podobojí employs various masking strategies, especially the devices of the mythological world creation. The construction of the logically impossible world is reinforced by the disintegration of narrative time, the fragmentation of texture and by the fusion of the narrator’s and the characters’ plans.

"The Shape of a Circle" in Daniela Hodrová’s Citlivé město

"Tvar kruhu" Citlivého města Daniely Hodrové

Author(s): Josef Vojvodík / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 1/2008

Keywords: Hodrová; Daniela; Tartu school; Citlivé město

In this article the author looks at Daniela Hodrová’s Citlivé město: Eseje z mytopoetiky (2006) – ‘the history of the literature of urban texts, texts about cities, and texts about urban spaces’. He argues that the work reveals the influence of the Tartu school (mainly Yuri Lotman’s and Vladimír Toporov’s models of mythopoeia), which is, however, linked with Jung’s archetypology and psychopoetics. From this perspective too he analyzes all three parts of the book, and concludes that it is an original work on the history of literature.

H. G. Adler and the poetics of remembrance

H. G. Adler und die Poetik des Gedenkens

Author(s): Thomas Krämer / Language(s): German / Issue: 01+02/2011

Keywords: H.G. Adler; Adler; Erinnerungspolitik; Erinnerung; Identität;

Roman Sikora’s Smetení Antigony: Pokus o tragédii

Roman Sikora: Smetení Antigony – Pokus o tragédii

Author(s): Libor Vodička / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 3/2005

Keywords: Sikora; Roman;

Interpretation of Roman Sikora’s "Smetení Antigony: Pokus o tragédii"

Cipher Motifs in Late Hrabal

Motivy-šifry pozdního Hrabala

Author(s): Milan Janković / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 2-3/2006

Keywords: Hrabal; Bohumil

An analysis of the works of Bohumil Hrabal, beginning with Kouzelná flétna from January 1989, which operate in the sphere of journalism. It argues that these works continue to be experimental and are to some extent interconnected, based on the variation, mirroring, and meeting of certain themes. It seeks to demonstrate this in connection with, among things, Karl Jaspers’s concept of “ciphers.”

Wallenstein’s Power Problem and Its Consequences

Wallenstein’s Power Problem and Its Consequences

Author(s): Barbara Klose-Ullmann,Manfred J. Holler / Language(s): English / Issue: 03/2008

Keywords: Power; bargaining; mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium; theater; Wallenstein

This paper wants to be both: an introduction to game-theoretical thinking as well as a game-theoretical discussion of Schiller’s Wallenstein. Note that the intention of this article is to convince theatergoers and people who work in the theatrical arts that it is worthwhile to study some game theory. Others will hopefully profit from the unusual Wallenstein interpretation. It is not this article’s purpose to teach game theorists, but rather to inspire applications. The drama is depicted as a game and consequently submitted to a formal analysis that is based on the economic concept of rationality. Weber’s definition of power is operationalized and applied to Wallenstein’s decision situation.

Vladimír Papoušek et al.: Dějiny nové moderny 2. Česká literatura v letech 1924–1934. Lomy vertikál.

Vladimír Papoušek et al.: Dějiny nové moderny 2. Česká literatura v letech 1924–1934. Lomy vertikál.

Author(s): Rajendra A. Chitnis / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 2/2016

Keywords: Papoušek Vladimír; new modernism; czech literature

Vladimír Papoušek et al.: Dějiny nové moderny 2. Česká literatura v letech 1924–1934. Lomy vertikál. Praha, Academia 2015. 622 stran.

The postwar Catholic literary generation

Katolická literární generace poválečná

Author(s): Martin C. Putna / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 4/2016

This study charts the generation producing Czech Catholic literature that came onto the scene after 1945. Between 1945 and 1948 it enjoyed a relatively conflict-free reception from the older Catholic generation and contemporaries outside the Catholic milieu. It had access to the Vyšehrad journal and the support of Catholic critics from the older generation. This generation more or less accepted the chief landmarks of postwar Catholic culture in Vyšehrad: the Slav orientation, the positive attitude towards socialism and the generational turnover. Two members of this generation aspired to the position of leader and spokesman: Ivan Slavík in Prague and Zdeněk Rotrekl in Brno. However, after 1948 this generation was excluded from literature and its members experienced various twists and turns in life and literature (prison, various shades of the “grey zone”, various forms of collaboration with dissidents and in the case of Josef Jelen even “conversion’’ to normalization literature). As a literary historian, Ivan Slavík has attempted to reconstruct this generation retrospectively and to also include such figures on the fringes as Ivan Diviš and Ladislav Novák. On the other hand Zdeněk Rotrekl is also engaged in literary history, but he focuses more on reconstructing the older Catholic generation rather than his own generation. Hence in this respect we might refer to a “Slavík generation”. As a result this generation appears to be neglected in all the reconstructions and rehabilitations, as it is overshadowed by the older “classic” Catholic generation and the intellectually bolder generation of Catholic-oriented dissident authors.

The Signification of the Forbidden Word „Nègre“ in African Literatures Written in French

Význam zapovězeného slova „nègre“ v afrických literaturách psaných ve francouzštině

Author(s): Vojtěch Šarše / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 59/2019

Keywords: Translation ; African literatures ; René Maran ; Ferdinand Oyono ; Williams Sassine

The essay examines the importance of the so-called forbidden word “nègre”, its history, meanings, significations, and, most importantly, its translations into Czech and English. The essay will examine three Sub-Saharan novels from different eras written in French, and their translations done by different translators, to establish the general conclusion. The essay will explain, through analysis of different extracts, how the translation which is does not take the word in question into consideration is deprived of several semantic nuances.

Arnošt Lustig and Others

Arnošt Lustig a ti druzí

Author(s): Jiří Holý / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 1/2018

Keywords: Holocaust/Shoah; literature; film; Arnošt Lustig;

This article examines changes in the Holocaust/Shoah presentation in literature throughout the several past decades. According to Alvin H. Rosenfeld, the Holocaust is not percieved as an authentic historical event these days and slowly becomes a shared symbol of evil or entertainment. Rosenfeld warns about the possible “end of the Holocaust” in public consciousness. Short stories and novels by Arnošt Lustig are good examples of these changes. Later books by the author accentuate the harsher side of life in the camps (violence, brutality, hetero- and homosexual prostitution, lack of unity among the prisoners etc.). He often records stories of young Jewish girls and women. Their beauty and youth form a moving contrast to the horrors of the Shoah. In the novelette Colette, for instance, many conventional images are used in the narrative. Credibility of presented figures disappears very often, they are “omnipresent” and “omniscient” almost like the famous Forrest Gump. By using various information and statements reproduced by these characters, the author constructs a kind of Auschwitz-Birkenau encyclopedia. The result of this is the loss of authenticity. At the same time, though, a lot of data of this “encyclopedia” is inaccurate. Lustig uses elements of thriller and romance. In works by other well-known authors who write about the Holocaust, various elements can be found: elements of thriller (Jonathan Littell), fantasy, comics, horror as well as porn films (Igor Ostachowicz). Literary texts by both Littel and Ostachowicz are full of violence, brutality and sexual scenes. Like Lustig, Jonathan Littell has created an encyclopedia of Nazi crimes during the WWII with implausible characters and situations in his novel The Kindly Ones. In contrast to Lustig and Littell, Night of the Living Jews by Ostachowicz is more original and impressive. It also brings actual questions concerning the past and relations between Poles and Jews.

Historical Ballads by Rajmund Habřina

Historické balady Rajmunda Habřiny

Author(s): Ester Nováková / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 1/2016

Keywords: Czech literature; Second World War; historical prose; ruralism; short-story; ballad; Rajmund Habřina; Věnec z klokočí;

The present study analyses the collection of three historical ballads by Rajmund Habřina, Věnec z klokočí (The Garland of Bladdernut, 1941), in the context of his prosaic work. It follows the ballads’ thematic plans, the dominant motifs (notably the motif of victim and man’s fight against evil), language expressivity, and the depiction of fictional characters. The study also compares period reviews, points out the lyrical and dynamic dimensions of the texts as well as the fitting atmosphere of the narration. The baroquising style points to Jaroslav Durych or František Křelina as sources of inspiration; however, Habřina achieves neither their poetic qualities nor thoughtfulness. Nevertheless, this work of fiction deserves critical and readerly attention as an example of historical fiction written in the period of the Second World War and of lyrical-psychological prose as well.

The general features of the literary historical model

K obecninám literárněhistorického modelu

Author(s): Dalibor Tureček / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 3/2019

Keywords: literary histories; Michal Charypar; ideal realism;

Text Michala Charypara k problematice ideálního realismu má ve svém základu zásadní a produktivní otázku po povaze podstatného výseku české beletrie především druhé poloviny 19. století. Současná literárněvědná bohemistika přitom — navzdory ojedinělým a nesoustavným pokusům, z nichž zmiňme jen knižní monografie Bohumila Fořta (fořt 2014), Jany Vrajové (vrajová 2017) či monotematické číslo časopisu Bohemica litteraria (urválková 2014) — nedisponuje moderním, metodologicky promyšleným a na širší množině materiálu prakticky ověřeným konceptem realismu, natož aby se podrobněji a soustavněji věnovala jeho specifickým různotvarům. Porovnání se slovakistikou, polonistikou či germanistikou, abychom zmínili alespoň nejužší souřadnice, tu vyznívá mimořádně nepříznivě. Je proto jen dobře, že Michal Charypar nabídl k rozpravě svou výchozí pracovní hypotézu, vědom si jistě i rizika, jaké s sebou nutně nese takový krok do mnohostranně nezajištěného provizoria; to je patrné i z označení návrh, které pro svůj text opakovaně užil.

Summer School of Onomastic Studies Helsinki 26.‒30. 8. 2019

Letní škola onomastických studií Helsinky 26.–30. 8. 2019

Author(s): Soňa Wojnarová / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 1/2020

Keywords: onomastic

The 5th International Conference on Onomastics]

5. ročník konference ICONN

Author(s): Žaneta Dvořáková,Pavel Štěpán,Veronika Štěpánová / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 1/2020

Keywords: onomastic

The 21st Slovak Onomastic Conference

21. slovenská onomastická konference

Author(s): Žaneta Dvořáková,Miriam Giger / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 1/2020

Keywords: onomastic

Crime and Destiny in Ancient Tragedy

Crimă și destin în tragedia antică

Author(s): Claudia Domnicar / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: tragedy; taboo; crime; Orpheus; fate; flashback; sellers of fate;

Crime represents a trigger that automatically entailed a new series of murders, which were either continued indefinitely, or followed by a suicide. The followers of the slain were obliged to avenge the dead, triggering the emergence of a range of families of dead and their avengers. When a few generations in conflict meet and both sides are equally entitled to seek justice, tragedy appears. The Oracle of Delphi is the most popular merchant of destinies. It has the ability to look into the future, the personal future of a person, but also into the collective future of a people. The Oracle of Delphi might appear to us as an expression of mystical beliefs, full of Orphism, magic and mystery, in fact they were usually callings and duties of the national spirit, or expressed the interests of the ruling classes. The oracle preached the future through the verbalization of facts that occurred, entailing their awakening, and becoming unavoidable. Orpheus’s failure is due to a single act of defying a prohibition, never to look back, which was the equivalent of bringing the dead into the future. By breaking the rule imposed by Persephone, Orpheus turns his head toward the past, crossing not only a space with his look, but a past where death dwells.

International grape varieties: dissemination of a qualitative French model

Les cépages dits internationaux : la diffusion d'un modèle français qualitatif

Author(s): François Legouy / Language(s): French / Issue: 2/2021

Keywords: International grape varieties; diffusion model; digital vineyard register; institute of wines for current consumption; appellation of origin

The term "international grape varieties", used by FranceAgriMer, refers to six grape varieties widely used in the world as well as in France, because of their reputation and their ability to improve and enhance wines. The analysis proposes to show how, in about fifty years, these grape varieties have become more important in France, even though the area under vine has been reduced by more than half. This evolution allows us to speak of a diffusion model, because the diffusion has been both spatial and temporal. For certain grape varieties, diffusion has even been generalised throughout the country. The role of the AOC has been fundamental in this development

The Heavy Burden of Being Ordinary. Considerations on Robert Schneiderʼs Novel Die Offenbarung

Die drückende Last der Mittelmässigkeit: Betrachtungen zu Robert Schneiders Roman Die Offenbarung

Author(s): Maria Roxin / Language(s): German / Issue: 60/2022

Keywords: destructive ideals; perfectionism; complex of inferiority; failure; marginality; self-irony;

The Austrian writer Robert Schneider had significant success with his first novel Schlafes Bruder/ Brother of Sleep, which sold about one million copies and was translated into over 36 languages. The following novels were not nearly as successful, although they had a favourable reception from the reading public. This paper explores how Schneider describes the destructive dimensions of ideals in his sixth and so far latest novel, Die Offenbarung/ The Revelation. Whereas most of Schneider’s characters are usually geniuses and thus outsiders or misfits, Jakob Kemper, the protagonist of the novel Die Offenbarung, is characterized precisely by the lack of any feature that could take him out of anonymity. Kemperʼs fear of being ordinary generates an endless number of failures. His whole existence is described as a long chain of humiliating personal and professional situations, defeats, and rejections. At the same time, this novel represents Robert Schneider’s attempt to reply with self-irony and disarming humour to his vocal critics, who often placed his works at the edge of trivial literature.

Someone falls in love with someone or How to show your affection towards another writer

Cineva se îndrăgostește de cineva sau Cum să-ți arăți iubirea față de un alt scriitor

Author(s): Iulia STOICHIŢ / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 10-11/2022

Keywords: Richard Brautigan; fanfiction; Brautigan Library; Andrei Mocuța; collaborative writing;

In this essay, I’m presenting the literary influences of Andrei Mocuța, a young Romanian writer, that it is known to be a fan of Richard Brautigan’s writing. Mostly, it focuses on the impact Richard Brautigan had on his writing and as a true measure for that, I’m analyzing a book he wrote, called The Brautigan Library, which it is hard to put into a category because of it being so eclectic. This book also proves to be a collaborative work as well, because a couple of Romanian writers show their appreciation for Richard Brautigan through letters written to the American writer.