Preferované rodinné vztahy a jejich nesamozřejmost v prózách Jana Balabána

Author(s): Martin Markoš / Language(s): Czech Issue: 3/2021

This paper deals with the prose works of Jan Balabán. It focuses mainly on the contradictions between idealized notions of the family and relationships within it and the “reality” of the fictional world, which does not match these ideas.The methodological contribution is based on anthropological literature, mainly regarding Wolfgang Iser’s idea (literature as a medium which facilitates anthropological experience that is otherwise unattainable), but also considers the sociological theories of Zygmunt Bauman involving liquid modernity and the fixed and pure relationships of Anthony Giddens.At first glance, it would appear that Balabán’s work presents the reader with an ideal which one should strive to achieve. Upon closer inspection, however, it can be stated that Balabán is never truly literal, and that he immediately questions every path towards reconciliation. He does not offer us the ideal as an illusion, but rather the relationship of the ideal with the non-ideal, which the constant self-reflection and questioning of the characters suggest. The characters experience the incompleteness of the experienced reality of the world, and they attempt to face it via language practice and ritualized actions. These, however, more or less create the given reality.Balabán utilizes family structure and its history as a system. The relationship towards this system needs constant renewal and reinterpretation. This can, however, temporarily lead to anxiety and frustration, but repeated integration into the structure is possible, according to the prose under review, even if only temporarily.

Zrození šedé z černé a bílé

Author(s): Eduard Burget / Language(s): Czech Issue: 4/2021

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.

Ve jménu přátelství

Author(s): Ondřej Sládek / Language(s): Czech Issue: 5/2021

This study describes the origin and development of the friendship between the literary scholar Jan Mukařovský (1891–1975) and the writer Vladislav Vančura (1891–1942). Mukařovskýʼs interpretations of Vančuraʼs literary works are the main focus of the study. Both Mukařovskýʼs published works and texts that were never published (e.g. university lectures) are analysed. On the basis of archival research, the author of the study proves that Mukařovský analysed Vančuraʼs work much earlier than he published his first-ever work on Vančura in 1934. In the course of the 1940s to 1960s, Mukařovský published many texts on Vančura in which he remembered Vančura as a friend, poet, Communist and anti-fascist activist. Vančuraʼs image changed gradually — in line with what Mukařovský had selected and emphasized from his life and work at the time. An analysis of the changes in Mukařovskýʼs interpretations forms the basis for the second part of the study.

Přicházeli vhod i nevhod

Author(s): Jiří Holý / Language(s): Czech Issue: 5/2021

This article deals with the aesthetic views that Vladislav Vančura formulated in the late 1920s and early 1930s. During this period Vančura continued to share certain principles with the avant-garde. The key attribute of literature turned out to be “poeticity”, “the verbal magic that uplifts and causes sudden shifts in the mind”. Vančura sympathetically followed the emergence of Prague structuralism and its concepts. The dominant role of the aesthetic function in art met his requirement for “poeticity”, while in Vančura’s works the structuralists found suitable material to support their concepts. Jan Mukařovský wrote about Vančura in a positive light not only in the 1930s and 1940s, but also later on, when Vančura’s works found themselves in potential conflict with the demands of “realism” and “the people”. An example of the reverse case, i.e. a fundamental misunderstanding based on different ideas about literature, can be found in the criticism of Vančura’s novel The Last Judgement by Ferdinand Peroutka.

Dvojí pohled Jana Mukařovského na Vančurův román Konec starých časů

Author(s): Jiří Poláček / Language(s): Czech Issue: 5/2021

The introduction to this study describes the genesis of Vladislav Vančuraʼs novel The End of the Old Times (1934), which was based on a film script about Baron Munchausen. This is followed by an outline of its critical reception at the time and its historical background. It involves both the phenomenon of emigration from Russia after 1917 and the land reform carried out in Czechoslovakia from 1919 onwards. The core of the study is an analysis of Jan Mukařovskýʼs study of the novel, published in 1934 in the journal Listy pro umění a kritiku (Art and Criticism) and Mukařovskýʼs afterword to the fourth edition of The End of the Old Times, published in 1958. The author also considers both analysed texts in the context of the relevant literature.

Obrazy hvězd a jisker v Máji

Author(s): Martin Z. Pokorný / Language(s): Czech Issue: 6/2021

The subject of this article is the role played by the stars and sparks motif in the first to third cantos of Machaʼs poem May. The stars appear in the first canto, both in the form of expiring and falling stars and in the form of sparks (the reflection of starlight) playing on the waves of the lake. In the second canto, the black night and the darkness of the universe become an image of nothingness, and the extinguished (dead) star falling forever through space becomes an image of the exposure of human life to this nothingness. Confronted with nothingness, the sparks on the surface of the lake appear as beauty itself. But if sparks are characterized as ‘lost light’, then it is said that man is not able — due to the limitations of his vision and knowledge — to determine which spark is a reflection of which star, so he is not able to reveal the source of earthly beauty. In fact, he is not even able to find out whether earthly beauty and earthly life really have any supernatural (transcendent) source.

„Across“ nebo „In-between“? O stavu a perspektivách intermediálních studií

Author(s): Alice Jedličková,Stanislava Fedrová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 6/2021

This reflection on the state and prospects of intermedia studies is inspired by a discussion among representatives of the field from around the world, organized as a series of online mee-tings by Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil, in September 2021. The presentations made by leading intermedialists always included contextualization and conceptualization: i.e. setting their own research within the context of the discipline’s development and the syn-chronic study of culture, and defending old concepts or proposing new ones. The key term ‘in-between’ expresses one of the trends in theatre and film production, whose output does not establish relations to other media, but is created at the intersection of media. In our exposi-tion, we add the historical context of intermedial discourse and relate it to the Czech envi-ronment. We assess both novel and frequently debated concepts in terms of their analytical and educational potential. It turns out that intermedia studies enable us inter alia to clarify how and why changes are currently taking place in the position of literature, which other me-dia can seemingly overshadow, but also absorb and refresh.

Jak existuje chronotop v lyrice

Author(s): Andrea Králíková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 6/2021

This paper contains book review of: Kubínová, Marie. Časoprostor lyriky. Vydání první. Praha: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, 2020. 114 stran. ISBN 978-80-7658-014-5.

Nová etapa máchovské vědecké recepce?

Author(s): Žoržeta Čolakova / Language(s): Czech Issue: 6/2021

This paper contains book review of: Charypar, Michal. Prameny Máchova Máje: fakta a hypotézy. Vydání první. Praha: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, 2018. 165 stran. ISBN 978-80-88069-65-2.

„Kritický talent, to jest duševní struktura...“

Author(s): Lenka Řezníková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 6/2021

This paper contains book review of: Procházka, Arnošt a Merhaut, Luboš, ed. Kritiky a eseje z let 1892-1924. Vydání první. Praha: Institut pro studium literatury, 2020. 1133 stran. ISBN 978-80-87899-98-4.

Nový svazek o německojazyčné literatuře v protektorátu přináší výzkumu nové impulzy

Author(s): Volker Mohn / Language(s): Czech Issue: 6/2021

This paper contains book review of: Antošíková, Lucie, ed. a Brunová, Marie, ed. Všechny vody Čech tečou do Německa: studie k německé literatuře a kultuře protektorátu. Vydání první. Praha: Academia, 2021. ilustrace, portréty, faksimile. 1938-1953; svazek 36. ISBN 978-80-200-3223-2.

Nová studie o rozhlasové režii

Author(s): Eva Schulzová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 6/2021

This paper contains book review of: Bojda, Tomáš. Herec a režisér v rozhlase: kapitoly z tvorby Jiřího Horčičky a Josefa Melče. 1. vydání. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2020. 392 stran. Rádio a televize; svazek 3. ISBN 978-80-244-5698-0.

Slovenská literatura „v kontaktoch“

Author(s): Lukáš Holeček / Language(s): Czech Issue: 6/2021

This paper contains book review of: Bystrzak, Magdalena, ed., Passia, Radoslav, ed. a Taranenková, Ivana, ed. Kontakty literatúry: (modely identity reprezentácie). Bratislava: Veda, vydavateľstvo SAV, 2020. 351 stran. ISBN 978-80-224-1856-0.

Solfernus

Author(s): Tomáš Havelka / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2022

This study focuses on the late medieval infernal novel The Life of Adam, or Solfernus from Olden Times by Václav Hájek of Libočany (1553). The text is briefly placed within the context of medieval infernal novels, combining a biblical pseudepigraph and a legal manual. A comparison of late medieval manuscripts and Hájek’s version showed that Hájek proceeded independently as an author and stuck to the text only at the beginning. From Chapter 18 onwards he significantly modified the original text, enhancing it with new characters and dialogues, emphasizing its fictional nature by removing biblical and theological insertions, and highlighting the grotesque character of the devils depicted. One completely new element is the conclusion of the text, in which Hájek emphasizes the descent of Christ into hell and his deliverance of the patriarchs from limbo. The exquisite and unique woodcut decoration of the text, the participation of Sixtus of Ottersdorf in the editing of the text, the wording of the preface and the many allusions in the text lead to a final reflection on its extra-literary function as part of the resistance to the rule of Ferdinand I, as well as the anti-regime message of 20th century adaptations.

Proměny díla Růženy Svobodové na přelomu století

Author(s): Radek Touš / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2022

Předložená studie se zabývá prozaickým dílem Růženy Svobodové z přelomu století. Romány Zamotaná vlákna (1899), Milenky (1902) a sbírku povídek Pěšinkami srdce (1902) nahlíží jako estetické jevy, jejichž prostřednictvím je možné do určité míry re/konstruovat dobovou literární rozpravu, její tendence a proměny. Výkladem těchto románů a povídek na pozadí poznatků o autorčině raném díle, jakož i srovnáním jejich časopiseckých a knižních verzí usilujeme o podchycení nových obsahových i tvárných rysů, které jsou v podstatě projevem pohybů v literárním poli. Abychom těmto proměnám co nejlépe porozuměli, zasazujeme je do širších společensko-kulturních souvislostí, jak je reflektovala dobová literární kritika. Domníváme se, že konfrontací próz Růženy Svobodové s recenzemi, kritickými statěmi, ale i díly dalších prozaiků je možné získat podklad k formulaci obecnějších závěrů, platných pro modernistickou prózu jako takovou.

Bajka pro dnešek

Author(s): Tereza Dědinová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2022

Ekokritika je relativně nový, nicméně významný a bouřlivě se rozvíjející směr zkoumání uměleckých děl zaměřující se na vztah literatury a životního prostředí. Od svého počátečního soustředění na nebeletristická líčení přírody (tzv. nature writing) ve své druhé generaci rozšířila pozornost ke všem typům reprezentace prostředí v literatuře a v médiích obecně. Daleka toho být čistě hodnotící či dokonce ideologickou metodou, ekokritika zkoumá reprezentace vztahu přírody a kultury, reflektuje propojení environmentální a sociální tematiky a analyzuje inovativní strategie narace usilující o postižení komplexních témat. V této studii se po úvodní charakteristice a přiblížení vývoje ekokritiky zaměříme na sedm současných českých románů tematizujících environmentální témata. Analýzu vybraných aspektů těchto děl — reflexe klimatické změny a environmentální krize, ekologické spravedlnosti a socio-environmentální bídy, reprezentace přírody a zpochybnění hranic mezi kulturou a přírodou — doplníme pokusem o jejich uchopení prostřednictvím konceptu hyperobjektu Timothy Mortona.

Wilhalm, Alexandr a Jakub Jeruzalém v bohemikální literatuře na sklonku přemyslovské doby

Author(s): Matouš Turek / Language(s): Czech Issue: 3/2022

Three narrative texts composed under the rule of King Wenceslas II meaningfully integrate motifs associated with the Holy Land and the crusades. In portraying an independent, pious sovereign, who derives authority from Jerusalem and bypasses Rome, Ulrich von Etzenbach’s Middle High German romance Wilhalm von Wenden manifests the royal ideology of the late Přemyslid court. In the Old Czech Alexandreis, insights into the psychology of a military expedition provide grounds for moral reflection, while references to the perceived geographic centrality of Jerusalem serve to sustain a symbolic layer in the text. The incorporation of crusade-related elements from the Alexandreis into the Legend of Saint Jacob the Minor testifies to the vivacity of intertextual practices in late-13th-century Bohemia.

Proměnlivý obr

Author(s): Matouš Jaluška / Language(s): Czech Issue: 3/2022

The chief protagonist in the fragments of the Old Czech Alexandreida is usually interpreted as a hero embodying the virtues of a sovereign. This study offers an alternative reading in a comparison with Gautier de Châtillon’s Alexandreida and Ulrich von Etzenbach’s Alexander. The passages set in Troy, Jerusalem and Libya show that the Old Bohemian Alexander rises high only to fall again. This fall is not brought about by any prideful intemperance, as in other versions, but takes the form of a betrayal of the sovereign ruler, the Lord, which mirrors the betrayal to which Alexander’s father Philip succumbed in the Old English version, and is underpinned by the fickleness of Alexander’s “giant’s heart”. Under the influence of the ambivalent advice of his teacher Aristotle, this heart eventually turns from God to the world. Hence instead of a uniquely ideal ruler. The chief protagonist comes to be a general example of a fallen man.

Svätý za katrem: Cesta buržoazního nacionalisty tam a zase zpátky

Author(s): Milan Ducháček / Language(s): Czech Issue: 3/2022

Through an analysis of Zdeněk Doskočil's monograph on a key period in Ladislav Novomeský’s life and work, this essay attempts to examine the possibilities and limits of biography as a historiographical genre. The author relies on attempts to reformulate biography as a distinct but traditionally convention-bound genre of “writing about the past” so as to bring it closer to what is known as contextual biography (Hans Renders, Binne de Haan). The text places Doskočil’s book among a number of other monographs published in recent years on luminaries of the Czech and Slovak Marxist intellectual elite (e.g. Zdeněk Nejedlý and Gustáv Husák). It focuses on the dilemmas faced by the author, who chooses a line of interpretation that differs from the chronological and holistic kind, as well as on the “Novomeský case”, suggesting the opportunities that can be followed up by a researcher in an endeavour to contextualize an individual “fate”. Rather than coming to specific conclusions, the text thus aims to formulate the questions that contemporary biography ought to be raising.

V Telči se uskutečnil další ročník literárněvědné doktorandské konference

Author(s): Marta Janíčková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2021