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Autofictions and memoirs about growing up in late socialism have proliferated in Czech as well as in other postsocialist Eastern European literatures. These retrospective texts are often tinged with nostalgia and infused with irony and humour. Two of the most popular texts of this genre in the Czech Republic are Irena Dousková’s autofictional books Hrdý Budžes [B. Proudew] and Oněgin byl Rusák [Onegin Was a Rusky]. The Czech author writes about growing-up in a non-conformist family dealing with everyday life in socialist Czechoslovakia. After discussing Dousková’s books as autofiction the article will take a closer look at the poetics of childhood autofictions and their contribution to cultures of remembering socialism in comparison to autobiographies. It will discuss the ways how writing about childhood creates a specific socialist identity through scarcity, ingenuity, and working with/against restraints and the way humour is used to transmit difficult memories.

После падения коммунистического режима чешское диссидентское движение участвовало в создании новых эго-документов, отсылающих к интерпретации социалистического прошлого. В статье данная проблематика представлена на примере двух мемуарных диссидентских текстов. Речь идёт о life story актрисы Власты Храмостовой и о путевых заметках писательницы Эды Крисеовой. Данные саморефлексивные мемуары являются сознательно конструируемым речевым актом защиты памяти и культурного взаимодействия с инакомыслием. Их мышление, сформировавшееся в диссидентской среде, сосредоточенной на необходимости быть человеком «духовным» (Я. Паточка) и участвующим в общественной деятельности, представляет собой тенденцию в чешской литературе рубежа тысячелетий, когда снова обсуждалось участие в литературе с целью «исправить» интерпретацию прошлого, особенно 50-х гг. ХХ в. и периода «нормализации». Методологическая база исследования основана на трудах М. Альбвакса и П. Рикёра.

The following paper is based on the concept of literature and mediality of memory (Astrid Erll) which deals with the function of literary texts in creating and maintaining collective memory. Using these methodological incentives, it focuses on the determination and characterization of ways in which Czech literary works co-create and preserve the memory of the 20th century Hlucin Region, as well as, vice versa, the ways involved in suppressing some layers of memory and oblivion. The area described is selected, inter alia, because of its discontinuous and multi-layered memory influenced by geopolitical changes in Central Europe. The study thus provides a more detailed view of how artistic literature, as a medium of collective memory, can function within the phenomena of the so-called abused memory and memory work (Paul Ricoeur).

This article is devoted to show the common grounds of Czech and other European literature. Images of birds have an imposing tradition of use in Czech literature. They are characterized by a variety of meanings and history of existence. There are both traditional and everyday folklore images, such as mythologeme of raven for the first one, and geese for the second, which have different semantic workloads. Discussion of the image of birds in the Czech literature is the basement of conclusions about the common ground that brings Czech and European literature together. Moreover, it also gives us more details about Czech national identity, the specifics of its literary schools and movements and the originality of the author’s vision of the world.

Treatises on four ultimate truths about the human condition in 16th and 17th century Czech literature an outline of issuesCzech literature of the 16th and 17th century was for readers of that time an important source of admonishment concerning death and afterlife. Manuals about the art of dying — ars moriendi books — provided ample advice on how to die a “good death”. Besides that, their authors focused also on other issues of ultimate importance for human beings, i.e. death, God’s judgment, heaven and hell. The aim of the treatises was to make readers lead a good life through constant pondering over death and the uncertainty of the soul’s fate in the afterlife. Descriptions of various tortures suffered by the damned in hell were meant to frighten sinners, make them repent and change their lives. Descriptions of heaven, on the other hand, were supposed to lure people into doing good. According to the Catholic dogma, after death, the soul can go to heaven, hell or purgatory. The Protestant Reformation rejected purgatory as wishful human fiction, and returned to a traditional dualistic view of the afterlife. Traktaty o ctyřech poslednich věcech clověka v ceske literatuře 16. a 17. stoleti nacrt problematikyCeska naboženska vzdělavaci literatura 16. a 17. stoleti představovala pro ctenaře důležitý zdroj pouceni o smrti a posmrtnem životě. Přirucky sťastneho umirani — knihy ars moriendi přinasely rady, jak ma dobra smrt vypadat. Kromě teto problematiky se autoři zabývali tematy souvisejicimi s poslednimi věcmi clověka, to je smrti, božim soudem, peklem a nebem. Cilem traktatů bylo přimět ctenaře k dobremu životu prostřednictvim myslenky na smrt a nejistý posmrtný osud duse. Liceni pekelných trestů mělo vyvolat u hřisniků hrůzu, přimět je, aby změnili sve chovani a nastoupili cestu pokani. Popisy raje měly lakat a přitahovat. Podle katoliků duse po smrti mohla jit do nebe, pekla nebo ji cekal ocistěc, kde měla smýt hřichy a pote vstoupit na nebesa. Reformace odmitla uceni o ocistci, a proto na něm protestansti autoři zdůrazňovali lidský výmysl.

The image of Jan Hus’s death in literary and film worksThe article shows, on selected examples from Czech literature and film, different images of the Czech reformer’s death. The fundamental texts of this article are the testimonies of two witnesses of that event: a member of Hus’s escort, Peter from Mladoňovice, and a burgher from Konstantz, Ulrich Rychental. Confesional dependent visions, that both of them were creating, initiated two traditions in the perception of Jan Hus: as a martyr and as a heretic. The vision of Mladoňovic dominated thinking about Hus in Czech society until the beginning of the recatholization. During the 19th century it was also supported by historism typical for the National Revival epoch F. Palacký, Dějiny naroda ceskeho, persisted in journalism, literature, art and, after some modifications, operated until the middle of the 20th century O. Vavra, Jan Hus. Later literary and film productions E. Kantůrkova, J. Svoboda, Jan Hus take into account Rychental’s testimony, so the one-sided picture of the death of the Bethlehem preacher gained a new dimension. Literarni a filmove obrazy smrti Jana HusaClanek na vybraných přikladech z ceske literatury a filmu ukazuje dva různe obrazy smrti ceskeho reformatora. Zakladnimi texty jsou zpravy dvou ocitých svědků udalosti: clena Husova doprovodu Petra z Mladoňovic a kostnickeho měsťana Ulricha Richentala. Konfesijně podminěne obrazy, ktere oba atoři kreuji, stoji na pocatku dvou rodicich se tradic v pojimani Husa: jako mucednika a jako kaciře. V ceskem prostředi dominoval až do pocatku rekatolizace Mladoňovicův obraz, který byl v 19. stoleti převzat obrozeneckým dějepisectvim F. Palacký, Dějiny naroda ceskeho a nasledně publicistikou, literaturou a výtvarným uměnim a v různých modifikacich přetrval zhruba do poloviny 20. stoleti O. Vavra, Jan Hus. Pozdějsi literarni a filmova produkce E. Kantůrkova, J. Svoboda, Jan Hus zohledňuje take Richentalovo svědectvi, cimž do te doby jednostranný obraz smrti betlemskeho kazatele ziskal novou dimenzi.

Sensual images of death in short stories by Richard Weiner selected examplesThe author of the article analyzes a selection of stories by Richard Weiner with regard to the leading theme — a sensual image of death. Attention is drawn to polisensuality of expression and the construction of the world depicted on the basis of sensual antinomies, e.g. silence/sound, movement/stillness, dead/alive, visible/invisible. The author refers to selected short stories from Weiner’s collections: Netečný divák 1917, Lítice 1918, Škleb 1919, and Lazebník 1929.Smyslná tvář smrti v povídkách Richarda Weinera ve vybraných příkladechAutorka článku analyzuje vybrané povídky Richarda Weinera z pohledu úvodního motivu, jímž je smyslná tvář smrti. Věnuje pozornost mnohasmyslnosti výpovědi a stavbě světa představeného na základu smyslových antinomií jako například: ticho–zvuk, pohyb–klid, mrtvé–živé, viditelné–neviditelné. Autorka se odvolává na vybrané povídky Weinera ze sbírek: Netečný divák 1917, Lítice 1918, Škleb 1919 i Lazebník 1929.

The article focuses on comparative analysis of aesthetic philosophical concepts of Czech and Russian symbolism at the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th century. The attention is predominantly paid to interpretation of selected theoretical studies and essayistic work by Czech and Russian followers of decadent-symbolist and symbolist aesthetics. In this article we are showing inner connections in genesis of aesthetic-philosophical system, which, in context of East and West-Slavonic literatures, represents gradual heading from decadent-symbolic aesthetics to broader trans-cultural syntheses. Above all, we follow gradual and fluent evolution from the concept of autonomous model of beauty to the principal of theurgy, which understands art as a cosmogonic power. In the first decadent-symbolist phase, Czech and Russian literature were carried by overcoming the reality by refusing of materialistic existence and by the way to spiritual visions and dreaming. The world of art had become a defence of clear aesthetic values, transcendent desire and metaphysical dream with sense of secret of human life, found in extra-sensual sphere of spiritual world of human. In aesthetic theories of both, Czech and Russian followers of decadent-symbolist aesthetics, we can find gradual tendencies to overcome decadent approaches to the integral understanding of the work of art as a high phase of symbolism. However, that was fully defined later by next art generation who started understanding art creating in its broader meaning as theurgy, using the words of the Russian philosopher V. Solovjov. Work of art and essayistic work of followers of this this phase of symbolism is represented by the idea of theurgy, idea of art which possesses mystic power, the idea of “all-human” art together with cognitive act. Art is seen mostly as a complex way of thinking and understanding of the world and the way of existence there. As the most important thing it was operated with finding of new perceptive ways and expressing and reaching the state of existence when the artistic images would not only evoke the impression of beauty but, at the same time they would work as the means of cognition.

The article examines the unauthorised stage adaptation of Alois Jirasek’s novel Psohlavci (Dogheads) produced by Jan Baptist Kuhnl (1849–1904), a dramatist, translator, and one of the earliest plagiarists in the late nineteenth-century Czech literature who in 1899 adapted and without authorisation staged the play Jan Sladký Kozina (published as a book in 1901). Kuhnl’s adaptation was completed without the permission of Jirasek, who intervened against the play’s illegal enactment at Svanda’s Theatre in Smichov through his lawyer Ladislav Klumpar (1863–1930), an imperial deputy. Jirasek won the 1899 trial by virtue of Act #197/1895, which continued the 1846 Imperial Patent, defining the nature and realisation of artistic creations (whose wording was partially incorporated into the Copyright Act of independent Czechoslovakia). In 1920, the play Jan Sladký Kozina was republished on behalf of Kuhnl’s descendants, his widow Marie Kuhnlova and daughter Marie Luisa Kuhnlova (1891–1945), a translator from Romance languages who only modernised the original 1899 epigonic adaptation for amateur actors. The second lawsuit in 1921 was not only Jirasek’s victory but it fully demonstrated that copyright was a relevant manifestation of intellectual intangible assets which must be legally protected. From a literary perspective, the case offers an interesting illustration of the contemporary concept of plagiarism as uninventive imitation, borrowing “thoughtlessly the whole structure, storyline and even individual elements” of a work.

The work Identity in Czech literary genres: national, territorial, cultural or historical? is an attempt at providing an answer to the title question by describing the conditions in which the characteristic features of Czech literary genres emerged and were amplified during the Czech national revival in the first half of the 19th century.

Well before the publication of his first monograph, Jaroslav Spirk’s name was already familiar to many scholars of Portuguese and Slavonic translation studies. His doctoral dissertation, on which t...

The chapter starts from the premise that the study of cultural diplomacy, dominated by a focus on major world powers since 1945, would be illuminated by a better understanding of the cultural diplomatic activities of small, new or restored European states after 1918. It further argues that attempts to incorporate literary translation into cultural diplomacy quintessentially highlight the difficulties of practising cultural diplomacy. The chapter centrally documents the extent and nature of government support for Czech literary translation in the UK, mapping the networks that facilitated the translation of Czech imaginative literature and assessing their relationship with Czechoslovak cultural diplomacy. The chapter shows that the translation and promotion of Czech literature in the UK, though never the product of direct state strategy or intervention, is always linked to gatekeeper sympathy for the idea and aims of Czechoslovakia, but the reception of translated Czech literature in the UK shows no appreciation of this aspect until after the September 1938 Munich Agreement, when, for Czechoslovakia, it is too late.

La enseñanza de la literatura en las escuelas secundarias de la República Checa, contribuye de manera relevante a ofrecer nuevas perspectivas educativas a los jóvenes checos. En tal sentido, esta enseñanza funciona como atesoran en el mundo, desde la Odisea de Homero, por ejemplo, a través del drama Shakesperiano y Fausto de Goethe, a las novelas de Balzac o de Zola, a los autores del siglo XX que se dedicaron a la causa humanista desvelando las facetas ocultas de la existencia humana. El propósito de nuestra reflexión sobre temas interculturales es, en primer lugar, analizar la contribución de la lectura al nivel de conocimiento, proponer la posibilidad de utilizar textos literarios para demostrar hasta qué punto el diálogo entre culturas, está incluido en las propias obras, y, por último, considerar qué textos literarios contemporáneos a escala mundial podrían enriquecer de manera relevante la selección de libros recomendados a los jóvenes checos. La conclusión será una síntesis tratando de comparar la situación de los estudiantes checos con la de los jóvenes franceses. También se resalta el papel de la traducción no sólo en la enseñanza de la literatura, sino en el conocimiento del Otro. The teaching of literature in secondary schools in the Czech Republic (note that this is in the course of Czech literature courses and taught in Czech) contributes in a relevant way to open to young people new worlds. It works starting from the treasury of the world thought, Homer’s Odyssey for example through Shakespearean drama and Goethe’s Faust, to the novels by Balzac or by Zola, to the twentieth century authors who engaged in the humanist cause by unveiling the hidden facets of human existence. The purpose of our reflection on intercultural topics is first of all to analyze the contribution of reading to the level of knowledge, then to propose the possibilities of using literary texts to demonstrate how much the dialogue between cultures is included in the works themselves, and finally, to consider which contemporary literary texts on a world scale could enrich in a relevant way the choice of books recommended to young Czechs. The conclusion will be a synthesis trying to compare the situation of Czech students to that of young Frenchmen, for example. It will also highlight the role of translation not only in teaching literature, but in knowing the Other.

The study deals with the influence of the classical tradition on Czech literature of the Early Modern Period (Renaissance, Baroque). The article demonstrates this influence through examples of the use of selected motifs from ancient history in all of the main genres of the literature of that era: homily, legend, school drama, poetry and educational literature. The study also analyses the educational background of the authors and readers of the era and their attitude to ancient history; the ways of mediation and making use of ancient motifs in the literature; and the influence of ancient historiography on Renaissance and Baroque culture and interpretation of history.

This article focuses on three nontraditional works of Czech literature and film production on the Holocaust that use elements of comedy and humor. The article discusses a Czech novel, Life with a Star (Život s hvězdou, written by Jiři Weil, published in 1949); a series of seven short stories, The Menorah (Sedmiramenný svicen, written by Josef Skvorecký, published in 1964); and six different versions of The Shop on Main Street (a short story, a serial, two versions of a screenplay, a novel, and a film) produced by Ladislav Grosman, Jan Kadar, and Elmar Klos (published in 1962, 1964, 1965, and 1998). It readdresses the place of comedy and humor in artistic representations of the Holocaust.

The Czech post-war avant-garde is split between collective enthusiasm, the adoration of the masses, and the depiction of the lone individual in crisis. Interpretations of this period have until now...

The following article concerns the Prague studies of Bolko V, Duke of Opole (died 1460), also known as the Hussite, the Heretic or Woloszek. To be more precise, the article returns to the hypothesis concerning his studies in Prague, which were supposed to end with obtain‑ ing the bachelor degree (bachelor of liberal arts). To this end, the article focuses on the earlier findings of historians and enters a polemic with those sources (particularly the works of Maciej Woźny), which leads the author to completely new conclusions and allows him to disprove the earlier findings. The article establishes that the primary sources as well as Polish literature on the subject contributed to the creation of a historiographical myth (particularly due to the information included in Annales Glogovienses) regarding Duke Bolko V and his education, which stemmed from insufficiently critical approach to the source material and its selective use. Primarily, the issue concerns incorrect analysis of a writ of the Papal office, dating May 7, 1413, which was, according to Woźny, supposed to shed new light onto the subject, and which has been reinterpreted in the present article. Moreover, the confrontation of the earlier research findings with the source documents as well as Czech literature (particularly hitherto unused stu‑ dent registers and dean’s records of the Prague universities) did not allow to consider the Duke a student of a university in Prague. In light of the repeated analysis of the issue of the Prague studies of Bolko V, Duke of Opole and an interpretation of the archived primary sources, the author argues that it is impossible to substantiate the claim that Bolko V ever studied in Prague and obtained a bachelor’s degree (at least until new sources emerge).

Three significant books that deal with Prague are used as gateways to literary thoughts about this ancient city at the center of Europe. Short glances at the city's history are followed by two figures directly related to the nature of Prague, Franz Kafka and Jaroslav Hasek, whose tragic visions alternate and often merge with raucous laughter. This leads to the complex Czech-German relations that have been haunting, but also enriching the city's culture. Returning to literature, this study briefly explores works (banned during the Communist regime) where Prague appears filtered through the intellects and perceptions of three very different Czech writers (Klima, Kundera, Vaculik). Subsequently, the vision expands to the enormous impact Prague has had on internationally well-known writers (Apollinaire, Banville, Beckett, Rilke, Trollope). Ultimately, this essay seeks to highlight the opposites which Prague comprises – its ancient nature as it constantly renews itself, its tragic periods shot through with lively irony, its jostling because of political changes and finally, its perennially being steeped in a specific magic which writers of different cultures have long been trying to describe.

The aim of this article is to present a concise insight into the Shoah topics in Czech literature. The images of the Shoah went through various phases within Czech literature. Immediately after World War II, it primarily centered on documentary accounts of those who had lived through Nazi camps (The Death Factory by Ota Kraus and Erich Schon/Kulka about Auschwitz). Jiři Weil's novel Life with a Star (1949) not only presented the horrible brutality of the Shoah, but also its seemingly banal, even profane side. This novel is considered the most important work on this theme in Czech literature and has inspired a multitude of other works. Arnost Lustig, who survived both Theresienstadt and Auschwitz, entered the literary scene at the end of the 1950s. The Shoah became the topic of his life's work (for instance A Prayer for Katarina Horovitzova). Arnost Lustig, Ladislav Fuks (Mr. Theodor Mundstock) and other authors used persecution and extermination of the Jews also as a metaphor for man caught in the machinery of the totalitarian regime. Some of these works also became famous in film versions like The Shop on Main Street, which was inspired by the story of Ladislav Grossman and received a foreign-language Academy Award in 1965. From the end of the 1960s onwards, this theme did not play such a key role in Czech literature as it had previously. So the Shoah appears in the background of several books by Viktor Fischl who emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Israel. For the generation which had never experienced World War II, they primarily understood this theme in terms of set images and stark Holocaust iconography. Some younger authors attempted to push these borders through representing the Shoah in an unusual way, fusing the grotesque, horror, vulgarity and banality (Arnost Goldflam, Jachym Topol).

Games with time, memory and history: About the prose of Milada SoučkováThe article discusses selected short stories by the Czech avant-garde writer Milada Součková. The author presents a brief interpretation of certain primary themes in the writer’s work, such as the themes of memory and history as a kind of framework of Součková’s writing. Another aspect of the article indicates subjects related to specific historical events that constitute for Součková a backdrop for presenting so-called alternative history which is combined with the microcosm of the characters in her stories. Gry z czasem, pamięcią i historią: O prozie Milady SoučkovejW artykule omówione zostały wybrane opowiadania czeskiej pisarki awangardowej Milady Součkovej. Autorka szkicu przedstawia interpretację stałych motywów w twórczości tej pisarki, takich jak motyw pamięci i historii, jako swoistej klamry ujmującej pisarstwo Součkovej. Kolejnym aspektem artykułu jest wskazanie na funkcjonowanie wątków związanych z konkretnymi wydarzeniami historycznymi, stanowiącymi tło do zaprezentowania tzw. historii alternatywnej, łączącej się z mikroświatem przedstawionych postaci.

The article is devoted to the influence of Czech literature and film about the Holocaust on the shaping of the Czech historical culture and Czech identity. The author distinguishes two important periods. Lasting from 1945 to 1948, the first one was a time when survivors produced works to tell others their true story. The second period, from the late 1950s to the late 1960s, was a time of the Czechoslovak New Wave. Often made by non-Jewish artists the-then films about the Holocaust, which were that movement’s pillar, individualised the Holocaust and did not offer clear-cut answers. Holocaust memory has not found a distinct place in Czech literature and film between 2000–2014, partly because of modern artists’ distance toward the old generation, their loose approach to the topic, and predominantly because of their ongoing search for their own values.

The focus of the paper is the analysis of the story about the courtesan Komurasaki and the samurai Shirai Gonpachi. The story, recurring in Japanese literature, appears also in Czech literature – the writings of Juliusz Zeyer – and in Polish literature of the turn of nineteenth century. The analysis will focus mainly on two works: Wacław Sieroszewski’s Miłość samuraja and Władysław Reymont’s Komurasaki. Żałosna historya o pękniętem porcelanowem sercu japońskim.

Circus as parody of communism. Gargling with Tar by Jachym Topol This article deals with humanism in Jachym Topol’s novel Gargling with Tar ( Kloktat dehet , Prague, 2005). The Czech writer’s perspective is close to the concepts of German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, who claims that the Romans were not only the authors of the idea of humanitas but also the inventors of bloody games such as circuses. In Topol’s novel, the circus is a holistic political project. The novel refers to the ideas developed in Russia in the 1920s, when a large number of circus theories and artistic manifestos were formulated. The circus was then officially recognised as the most important form of social entertainment (together with cinema) and it gained religious, aesthetic and political functions. By using the grotesque, fantasy and parody (Czechoslovakia as a giant circus), Topol’s novel creates an alternative narrative about the Prague Spring and “normalisation”. New meanings for notions such as progress, revolution and community are also revealed. Cyrk jako parodia komunizmu. Powieśc Kloktat dehet Jachyma Topola Artykul analizuje pojecie humanizmu w powieści Kloktat dehet Jachyma Topola (Praga 2005). Czeski pisarz jest bliski koncepcji Petera Sloterdijka, ktory pisal, ze Rzymianie oprocz idei humanitas stworzyli takze krwawe igrzyska – cyrki. W powieści Topola cyrk to projekt polityczny, w ktorym widac wyraźne nawiązania autora do koncepcji formulowanych od lat dwudziestych XX wieku w Związku Radzieckim, kiedy cyrk (obok kina) propagowano jako najwazniejszą galąź sztuki lączącą wszystkie grupy spoleczne. Wykorzystując groteske, fan­tastyke, ale przede wszystkim parodie (figura wielkiego cyrku socjalistycznego) autor Kloktat dehet buduje alternatywną historie Praskiej Wiosny i czechoslowackiej „normalizacji”, w ktorej nowych sensow nabierają pojecia postepu, rewolucji i wspolnoty.

espanolEn este trabajo prestaremos atencion a la traduccion de narrativa checa (de expresion checa) publicada en Espana desde 1975, senalando tambien algunas ausencias relevantes. Tras la Primavera de Praga en 1968 y la restauracion de la democracia en Espana, se comenzaron a publicar en Espana numerosas obras checas, en particular de un «clasico», como Karel ?apek y de autores contemporaneos, ya fueran exiliados o disidentes como Pavel Kohout, Zdena Salivarova, Ota Filip, Iva Prochazkova, Josef Skvorecký, Ivan Klima o Daniela Hodrova. Es en la primera mitad de los anos 80 cuando empieza a darse un autentico interes por esta literatura. Si en el ambito de la poesia el interes vino propiciado por la fascinacion que Clara Janes sentia por Vladimir Holan y la concesion del Premio Nobel de literatura en 1984 a Jaroslav Seifert, en el ambito especifico de la prosa el interes vino despertado por el reconocimiento a nivel mundial de la obra de Milan Kundera. Aunque cabe destacar tambien a otros autores, como Bohumil Hrabal o Ji?i Weil, este ultimo llego con mucho retraso a Espana. En la literatura checa escrita con posterioridad a 1989 ha destacado la proliferacion de diarios y memorias, asi como de ficcion posmoderna y de novela historica, de obras feministas y de otras que han recreado el pasado reciente, con un flujo de traducciones desigual. EnglishAttention is paid to the translation of Czech narrative – written in Czech – published in Spain after 1975, pointing out some significant absences. After the Prague Spring in 1969 and the restoration of democracy in Spain, numerous Czech pieces of writing were translated, more in particular those by well known Karel ?apek and by some contemporary exiled or dissident writers, such as Pavel Kohout, Zdena Salivarova, Ota Filip, Iva Prochazkova, Josef Skvorecký, Ivan Klima o Daniela Hodrova. It is in the first half of the 80s that a real interest in Czech literature arises. In the field of poetry, that was due to Clara Janes’ fascination for Vladmir Holan and the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Jaroslav Seifert. In the field of prose, that was due Milan Kundera’s achievement of worldwide recognition. Although some other writers, such as Bohumil Hrabal or Ji?i Weil were also prominent, the latter was translated at a very late stage. Post-1989 Czech prose has been characterised by the proliferation of diaries and memories, by the production of postmodern fiction and historical novels, feminist pieces and by a number of attempts to recreate the recent past, all of which have been subjected to an uneven flux of translations.

The ways followed by Czech literature to reach foreign readers have been sinuous in some occasions. One of the most important reasons of this fact, although not the only one, is the lesser international diffusion of Czech language, as it will be set out in this paper. A particularity of Czech literature is that during the 20th century some translations into Spanish were made in its country of origin. We will explore the ways the Czech and Spanish written literature reach the readers, such as through an unknown and perhaps fictitious translator, practice within the studied period consisting of publishing a translation under a translator name different of the real one, with the purpose of avoiding current official censorship or other administrative requirements. We will follow ?apek’s War with the Newts in its journey to Spain over the last decades. In this relationship between two literary systems, several elements play a role, such as Geopolitics, publisher’s policies, socio political settings – including censorship – macro economical and micro economical aspects and other circumstances.

Long-ignored or mentioned only sporadically, the phenomenon of indirect translation has sparked increasing interest in translation studies in the past few years. Jaroslav Spirk's first monograph, C...

This is one book that can truly be judged by its cover. The catchy subtitle (which echoes that of one of the English translations of The Good Soldier Svejk [Hasek 2000]) and arresting cover illustr...

This article considers the Czech cliche ‘the heart of Europe’ and its sentimentalization. It ends by linking the Czech heart with another nationalist symbol, the heart-leaved linden. The article derives the nationalist symbolism of the heart from medieval Saxon mysticism and its descendants, the Baroque cult of the Sacred Heart, taking in Cupid and his arrows on the way. Sources from the seventeenth to the twentieth century include belles-lettres, but also political writing from the Romantic historian Palacký to Vaclav Havel.

The monograph explores, by means of a diachronic overview, the ways in which historical dramas in Czech literature changed between the outset of the Czech national rebirth and the Republic of Czechoslovakia between the wars. The investigation is based on the fundamental notion that allegorical structures in historical dramas refer to the time at which a given work is created. A general overview on theoretical and historical aspect of Historical Drama leads into the study., Die Monographie untersucht in einem diachronen Über¬blick, wie sich das historische Drama in der tschechischen Literatur vom Beginn der natio¬nalen Wiedergeburt bis zur ersten tschechoslowakischen Republik der Zwischenkriegszeit ge-wandelt hat. Leitidee der Unter¬suchung ist, dass in historischen Dramen eine allegorische Struktur über bloße Geschichtsdarstellung hinausweist, womit Bezüge auf die Ent-steh¬ungszeit er¬kennbar werden. In einem allgemeinen Teil werden dramentheoretische und literaturhistorische Aspekte der Gattung behandelt., Kurzzusammenfassungen (jeweils ca. 5 Seiten) ins Englische und Tschechische

F. L. Čelakovský was one of the major poets of early Czech National Revival (národní obrození). He became famous for his books of adaptions of Russian and Czech folk poetry, „Ohlas písní ruských“ (1829; Echoes of Russian Songs) and „Ohlas písní èeských“ (1839; Echoes of Czech Songs). Less known are his „Selanky“ (Idylls), a group of poems that were written and partially published in the 1820s. As will be shown the texts as a whole represent the transition from traditional idyllic genre (following Geßner) to the modernized type of a national idyll which, on its part, was one of the main impulses for the general ,idyllization‘ of Czech culture in the further development of obrození.

The 1945–46 expulsion of Bohemian Germans and the subsequent colonization of the Czech borderlands both stemmed from the rationalist, utopian pursuit of purity and perfection that pervades twentieth-century history. Intrinsic to that pursuit is the attempt to eradicate guilt, which can be readily seen in Czech responses to the expulsions and the social and environmental devastation of the post-war borderlands. Beginning with the principle of ‘collective guilt’ used to justify the expulsions, Czech political, academic, and media rhetoric, schoolbooks, international collusion, and collective amnesia have perpetuated the dominant myth of the Czechs as victims, while seeking to discredit any suggestion of Czech guilt. Key novels from the first wave of Czech literature about the post-war borderlands — Sedlmayerova’s The house on the green hill (1947) and R ˇezacˇ’s Advance (1951) — explicitly show the suppression of guilt in action. This suppression is also evident in the imprisonment, soon after the 1...

The alleged crisis of Czech literature is currently a widely discussed topic among Czech writers. Therefore I analyse writing strategies that are used to overcome small context in this paper. Thereby the question of translatability plays an important part. Three approaches are followed: 1) to force originality, 2) to write ‚Euro-novels‘, 3) to change writing language. The overall picture is heterogeneous. We can consider this heterogeneity as a chance for Czech literature.

This article discusses the Czech privatisation. Since there was no economic theory of privatisation in 1989, the decision makers in transition economies had to improvise and solve a dilemma: fast or slow privatisation? The Czech literature on privatisation as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the privatisation methods in the Czech Republic, including the voucher one, are discussed. The article argues against the pessimistic view of the Czech privatisation, which predominated in the literature in the second half of the 1990s.

Six hundred years of Czech writing are documented in The New York Public Library's holdings. The article shows how ideas traveled from century to century in the Czech lands and who transmitted those ideas. Examples from the collection are presented. This article is based on an oral presentation given at the Twentieth Anniversary World Congress of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences in America, at the American University, Washington, DC, August 9–13, 2000. The author thanks Edward Kasinec, Chief of the Baltic and Slavic Division, for his support, and all members of that Division for their help. This article was originally published by The Haworth Press in Slavic & East European Information Resources, 2005, Vol. 6, Issue 1, pp. 9–18, and is reprinted with permission.

The paper is concerned with the Czech privatization. According to the author, there was no economic theory of privatization in 1989. Therefore, decision makers in transition economies had to improvise and solve a dilemma: a fast, or slow privatization? The Czech literature on privatization as well as the strengths and weaknesses of privatization methods in the Czech Republic, including of the voucher one, are discussed. The paper argues against the pessimistic view on the Czech privatization, which predominated in the literature in the second half of the nineties.

Obraz v narativní próze : Malířské motivy v české literature konce století Výtvarné dílo hraje důležitou úlohu jako motiv románové fikce a předložená studie se zabývá jeho místem v díle dvou českých spisovatelů, Julia Zeyera Dobrodružství Madrány, « Z papíru na kornouty », Dům и tonoucí hvězdy, Tereza Manfredi, « Legenda o jarním dešti », « Blaho v zahradě kvetoucích broskví ») a Jiřího Karáska ze Lvovic (Scarabeus, Ganymedes, Román Manfreda Macmillena, « Zlověstná madona », « Františkánská legenda », Zastřený obraz). Oba spisovatelé se ve svých textech zabývali různou, mnohdy rozporuplnou formou výtvarnými realizacemi postav a krajin. Motiv obrazu se zde často prolíná s motivem pozorovatele, což kromě jiných metamorfóz vede к postupné identifikaci literární postavy s malířským portrétem (u Zeyerových postav to vede až к psychickému rozkladu). Tradiční motiv magické moci obrazu, který se zde přímo nabízí, se vyvíjí od fantastického « exteriéru » к psychologickému tázání o člověku. To se mnohdy odehrává prostřednictvím meditace umělce nad modelem, nebo nad nedotknutelnou, záhadnou, ba i skrytou částí samotného uměleckého díla — s tím se setkáváme zvláště u Karáska, kde se ruka umělce zdá být ovládána jakousi vnější silou, rukou ďáblovou, nebo silou vlastního hříchu., The Picture Within the Narrative : Painting as a Motif in Fin de Siècle Czech Literature Paintings play a major part as motifs in novels, and this study focuses on their place in the works of two Czech writers, Julius Zeyer Dobrodružství Madrány [The Adventures of Modrána], Z papíru na kornouty [Of the Paper of which we Made Cones], Dům u tonoucí hvězdy [The House of the Sinking Star], Teréza Manfredi, Legenda o jarním dešti [Legend of a Spring Rain], Blaho v zahradě kvetoucích broskví [Bliss in the Garden of Flowering Peach-Trees]) and Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic (Scarabeus, Ganymedes, Román Manfred Macmillena [The Novel of Manfred Macmillen], Zlověstná madona [The Evil Madonna], Františkánská legenda [A Franciscan Legend], Zastřený obraz [The Veiled Painting]). Both writers show in their texts, using various and sometimes divergent forms, an interest in real or partly imaginary portraits, and also in landscapes, the motif of the painting being sometimes combined with that of the spectator observing it. This creates, among other metamorphoses, the identification of the literary character (and, in Zeyer's case above all, his psychological disarray) with the pictorial portrait. Above all else, it is the traditional motif of the magical power of the portrait which prevails, shifting from an 'external' fantasy form to a psychological examination of mankind. The latter is sometimes conveyed through the artist's meditations on his model, or through the intangible, mysterious, or even occult dimension of the work of art itself: in Karásek's works, in particular, the artist's hand itself seems to be dominated by an external force — the devil's hand or the force of the artist's own sin., Voisine-Jechová Hana. Le tableau dans le récit : le motif de la peinture dans la littérature tchèque fin de siècle. In: Revue des études slaves, tome 74, fascicule 1, 2002. pp. 43-62.

Of Czech ancestry, Albert Henry Wratislaw (1821–92) was educated at Rugby and Cambridge, and later became a prominent English public-school headmaster. At Cambridge he became interested in the literature and history of Bohemia and in 1849 he travelled there for the first time, quickly becoming proficient in the language. Upon his return home he began a lifetime of immersion in Czech literature. Published in 1862, this book was the first translation into English of a major Czech prose work. It is the vivid true story of a Bohemian nobleman's journey to, imprisonment in, and return from Constantinople in the late sixteenth century. Wratislaw's translation and brief introduction to Bohemian history proved popular and helped bring Czech literature and history to a wider audience.

In Czech literature of the second half of 20th century a sadistic frenzy is present in several few novels by Jan Křesadlo, Vaclav Zygmunt and Milos Urban. Although Czech writers do not copy the work of Marquise de Sade, they do use the motif of sadism to diagnosis the human condition in modern times, just as he did. In his novels Gravelarks and The Lord of Castle Křesadlo comes back to the times of Czechoslovakian Stalinism. In the novel Graduates’ Jubilee Zykmund criticizes the middle-class mentality, while Urban, in his novel Michaela, depicts a world between fiction and reality. Czech authors present the sadistic frenzy as a synthesis of exclusivity and primitiveness. In this way they express the more general subject, that is the relationship between culture and nature in modern times. A more or less perceptible deformation of nature is a side-effect of human aspirations to rule over nature. The sadistic frenzy shows a extreme variant of this phenomenon.

Romanticism, one of the most important philosophical and artistic periods in modern European culture, was never the mainstream tradition in Czech literature. Nor did the Gothic novel influence this literature in a significant way. In his Denik kastelana (Custodian’s Diary), Jan Bittner tries to use the formulas of traditional literary horror. The main aim of this renovation seems to be to search for a narrative form which is appropriate to show the problems and priorities of the modern self. The hero of the novel, who runs away from Prague and decides to live far from the postmodern civilization with its relativity of values and lack of metaphysical horizons, finds in the haunted baroque village castle a place where he can once again define the sense of life.

The objective of this paper is to argue—to put it somewhat emphatically—that European culture and society regards humanity highly while at the same time degrades and mutilates animals, physically or epistemologically, by exploiting, venerating and pampering them. As the paper tries to argue, these cultural and social attitudes would benefit from the radically deterritorializing schizophrenic treatment of Deleuze as it is anticipated in the works of two Central European modernist authors, Franz Kafka and Jaroslav Hašek.As to the outline of the paper, I would like to make few brief notes on the passagefrom the Nietzschean to Deleuzian tradition of an anti-humanist thinking (provided these two can be at all seen as distinct and separate), as well as on the anti-humanist topoi in Western and Central European literature. Second, on the backdrop of this brief and fragmented observation on the genealogy of anti-humanist writing, I would like to offer a further discussion of texts of the four Czech (or Central European) authors I indicate in the paper’s title.

The article deals with the problem of brooding over the history of the Sudetenland in the new Czech literature: novels Grandhotel (2006) by Jaroslav Rudis, Penize pro Hitlera (Money for Hitler, 2006) by Radka Denemarkova and Habermannův mlýn (Habermann´s mill, 2001) by Josef Urban. Writ-ers, by using inter alia mythologization, fictionalization and narration inspired by real history, are trying to restore the “polyphony of a memory” of the space. In literature on Sudetenland, temporality, continuity and memory significantly form that space, so that they are joined with the spaciality in one, indivisible unity.

The paper deals with the very beginnings of the ballad genre in Czech literature. The first Czech ballads were contributions to the almanachs edited by Antonin Jaroslav Puchmajer between 1795 and 1814. Although the main importance of this handful of texts is given by the fact that they were written in Czech (both translations and originals) their structural and functional diversity gives an impression of the further development of the genre in Czech literature up to Karel Jaromir Erbens "Kytice".