Bohemica Olomucensia

Canto Ostinato and Biglin Brothers on Double Skiff - Two Texts with Artistic Ambitions and Completely Different Reception

The study aims to analyse two prose texts. The lyrical-epic ballabile Bratři Biglinové na dvojskifu (The Biglin Brothers on a double skiff) by J. A. Pitínský and the novel Canto ostinato by Pavel Kolmačka. These are texts by authors who do not focus solely on writing fiction. J. A. Pitínský is known primarily as a playwright and theater director. Pavel Kolamčka is a respected and acclaimed poet. Both texts are connected by the emphasis on the method of processing. Both focus on writing. Pitínsky's text even has writing as its main theme. Kolmačka's novel analyses several themes. But the most important is the searching for one's place in the world in relation to the family in the broadest sense. The second aim is to show how different the reception of these two texts was, and to characterize the reasons. These lie in the fact that in many critical texts the basis for aesthetic judgment is not the form of the book but its subject matter. Such a state of affairs does not allow a full-fledged debate on the principles of evaluating literary works.

Keywords: novel; lyrical-epic ballabile; literary criticism; to analyse; to rate; Pavel Kolmačka; Jan Antonín Pitínský