Bohemica Olomucensia

Looking Everywhere for a Lost Kopeck: About Alena Machoninová's Hella

This study presents a literary analysis and interpretation of Hella (2023), the prose debut by Alena Machoninová. Positioned at the interface of biography, (auto)fiction, and the literary essay, the analysed text is examined as a complex reflection on memory, trauma, and identity, particularly within the context of the 20th-century totalitarian experience. Primary attention is given to a specific narrative strategy that productively merges a historical documentary base with the narrator's lyricized subjectivity. The study explores how Machoninová employs motifs of identity, naming, and linguistic "transfer" to articulate the experience of the Other, thereby constructing a shared mnemonic space where literature serves as a medium for probing the limits of representation and the search for an authentic self. Set against the backdrop of its critical reception, Machoninová's Hella represents a vital contribution to contemporary Czech fiction, characterized by the inseparable interpenetration of personal and literary memory.

Keywords: Alena Machoninová; Hella; Helena Frischerová; poetics; prose; autofiction; analysis and interpretation