Bohemica Olomucensia

HOSTOVSKÝ'S LONGING FOR A LOST PARADISE: INVENTING THE PAST

The paper presents a comparative reading of 1930s novels by Egon Hostovský Dům bez pána and Případ profesora Körnera. The attention is focused on the poetics associated with the themes of memory and recollection, especially on the role protagonists' memory plays in the constitution of identity of the narrating subject and other characters. It is shown that memory of the protagonists is rather unreliable and unstable, and so is their identity, because it seems to stem precisely from memory itself. It is suggested that this understanding could bring some useful insights for further interpretation of Hostovský's later texts written in exile, where memory and subjectivity of the protagonists seem to be even more disintegrated - to the point, where differentiating between separate characters and events becomes almost impossible for the reader.

Keywords: Egon Hostovský, memory, recollection, narrative identity, Paul Ricoeur, fiction, nostalgia