Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):7-9 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.029
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):16-36 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.030
This article aims to present the results of a quantitative analysis of bibliographical data about the Czech literary criticism in 2021. The source of these data is the Czech literary bibliography article database. The database contains information not only about print periodicals but also about online sources. For this reason, the article compares results from these two areas. The analysis shows differences and similarities between print and online criticism - which books or writers were evaluated and who created literary discourse. The literary criticism is examined from the point of view of gender and age of critics too. The article brings new information...
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):40-56 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.031
In a partly polemical study I raise the question of the meaning of Milan Kundera's early work. The polemic goes in two directions: first, against Jan Novák's voluminous monograph, Kundera: Czech Life and Times, and second, against Holt Meyer's summarizing review of Novák's book, which was published in French. I use the example of Novák's paraphrase of one of Kundera's early poems ("Love and Life", Man: A Wide Garden) to illustrate his fictionalizing style. By interpreting the same poem myself, I illustrate the meaning of early poetry, the knowledge of which is essential for understanding the background and dynamics of Milan Kundera's entire oeuvre....
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):58-72 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.032
The study deals with three book collections from the diaries of the Czech literary scholar and pedagogue Zdeněk Kožmín (1925-2007). The first book, Struktury (1995), contains his diary entries from 1975-1989, i.e. from the period of normalisation when he taught at a secondary school. The second book, entitled Obtisky (1998), covers the period 1990-1997. The study also includes a reflection on the reception of Kožmín's first two books by literary critics. The core of the study is the description and analysis of the third diary, which is titled Bubáčci. It contains Kožmín's diary entries from 1998-2002. The main thematic line of the book is Kožmín's...
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):74-92 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.033
The paper explores the prose work of poet, novelist and cultural organiser Petr Borkovec, particularly his books Petříček Sellier & Petříček Bellot (2019) and Sebrat klacek (2020). Incorporating a number of excerpts, it presents the most distinctive features of Borkovec's prose style. Borkovec's prose works are characterized by fluctuations in genres, tensions between lyrical and epic principles, as well as between fiction and journalism. They usually deal with nature, travel, literature, or more generally comment on human life. Particular attention is paid to language and description as the author's most distinctive stylistic device.
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):94-113 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.034
Promising Czech poet Šimon Leitgeb (born 1996) has received rather favourable reviews of his two poetry collections published so far, i.e., Mezi náma (Among Us, 2017) and Betonová pláž (The Cement Beach, 2020), the second of which Leitgeb was given the Jiří Orten Award for, a Czech literary prize for young authors under the age of 30. Almost all of the reviewers recognized "naiveté" as a constitutional quality of Leitgeb's poetry. However, too few of them saw this "naiveté" as part of the author's cunning stylization, or an artful means of arousing readers' sympathy for or bringing their attention to the characters and situations as depicted in the...
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):116-127 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.035
This article deals with the novel by Petr Motýl Příběh pana rytíře Vítka a jeho dcery Anežky (The Story of Knight Vítek and his daughter Anežka, 2020). It focuses on types of characters and archetypal motifs, using Northrop Frye's concept of mythoi, i. e. narrative plots (comedy, romance, tragedy, satire) connected with seasons and vegetation cycles. It is reflected in subgenre metamorphoses of Petr Motýl's historical fiction.
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):128-137 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.036
This article deals with two books, the subject of which was the life of the Czech resistance fighter Pravomil Raichl: the non-fiction publication by Jaroslav Čvančara Pravomil Raichl. Život na hranici smrti (Pravomil Raichl. Life on the Edge of Death, 2017), which presents Raichl's notable biography from a historiographical perspective (using historical sources and eyewitness accounts), and the novel by Petr Stančík Pravomil aneb Ohlušující promlčení (Pravomil or The Deafening Silence of Justice, 2021), which is inspired by the fate of the mentioned historical figure. The following article also tries to place both books in the context of the current...
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):138-147 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.037
The paper deals with the phenomenon of recent Czech prose works that reflect the theme of modern Central European history, especially of the 20th century. Attention is paid to the analysis of the critical and reader reception of selected novels and novellas as well as their awards in domestic literary polls and competitions. The study also examines and describes the significant literary schematism, including the repetition of motifs, narrative structures, and types of fictional characters; finally, the paper considers the potential reasons for the success of this wave of "memory" works.
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):148-156 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.038
The paper analyses Pavla Horáková's novel The Heart of Europe (2021). In 2018, Horáková published her novel The Theory of Strangeness and won the Magnesia Litera Award for it. Critical reviews of the novel praised especially its composition, the protagonist's intellect, the author's work with language and the multi-genre nature of the text. The Heart of Europe, on the other hand, received a highly contradictory reception. The aim of this paper is to critique three aspects under which The Heart of Europe has been promoted - the claim that it is a "novel" presenting "a remarkable dialogue between two narrative voices" and a "peculiar love story".
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):158-168 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.039
The study compares two novels: Rudiš's Winterberg's Last Journey and Horáková's The Heart of Europe. Both novels have a similar theme, namely the history of the Habsburg Empire, and are set in two time periods, but the narrator's conception and narrative style is different each time, as is the artistic achievement and the reader's conception.
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):170-177 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.040
The study is devoted to Simona Bohatá's second prose book Všichni sou trapný (Everybody is Embarrassing). In the context of the evaluation of the novel, the study reflects more generally on the popularity of books with the theme of normalization. We can see a certain decline of interest in this topic in recent years as one of the reasons why Simona Bohatá's prose is not very successful among readers, despite the positive reviews and its undoubted literary qualities.
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):178-192 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.041
The article considers the role of historical fiction in Czech literature since the year 2000 and analyzes the depiction of history within the genre of family saga and novel chronicle based on the example of the first two volumes of Karin Lednická's intended trilogy Šikmý kostel (2020, 2021).
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):194-210 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.042
The paper deals with the newest novels by Tereza Dobiášová (Tajemství. Neskutečný příběh Anežky České [Secret. The Unreal Story of Agnes of Bohemia]) and Kateřina Tučková (Bílá Voda). Both of these works concern, among other things, the search for feminine spirituality as well as the most famous Czech saint Anežka Česká; both are set in the Czech past (the former is set in the Middle Ages, the latter predominantly in the second half of the 20th century). The paper compares these novels and monitors similarities and differences (such as different story-construction, plot centres, focuses and goals, etc.). It also notes the similar motivation of the...
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):212-222 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.043
The study focuses on two plays of the winner of the Best Czech Play of 2019 and 2020 - talented author Tomáš Dianiška. Title Trans, Points, Seconds was inspired by the scandalous fate of a Czech athlete Zdena Koubková, who was in fact a man, The Magnificent 294 is a documentary fiction based on a real event - the assassination of Reichsprotektor Heydrich. Dianiška perceives historical themes with controversial optics. His texts are full of black humour and irony, as well as frequent use of pop culture references.
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):226-232 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.044
The study reflects on the question of whether Ema Labudová's book Tapetář (The Wallpaper Artist) was rightly awarded the 2019 Book Club Literary Award. The author tries to demonstrate that although the text treats a socially desirable topic (the lives of LGBTQ people), this fact cannot obscure the fundamental weaknesses of Ema Labudová's literary art.
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):234-245 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.045
The study focuses on the debut of Barbora Hrínová Unicorns. The primary goal is to describe basic poetological parameters of short stories through interpretation and analysis. The study also deals with the literary-critical evaluation of other critics, while in the end it offers its own critical evaluation.
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):248-263 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.046
In my paper, I see hybridisation as the mixing of multiple, often disparate elements. This term is used in literary studies mainly in connection with postmodernism and its other features (intertextuality, fragmentation, eclecticism, etc.). In Slovak post-revolutionary prose, the boundaries between arts, media, types or genres are often crossed, and there is an increasing number of works that oscillate between non-fiction and fiction, biography and fiction, journalism (reportage) and fiction, popular and artistic literature, or between the arts (visual, film and literary arts). In my paper, I will discuss prose published in 2019-2020: Katarína Kucbelová's...
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):264-270 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.047
A brief recapitulation of Pavel Vilikovský's life and work prefaces an analytical-interpretive commentary on his last published prose RAJc je preč, which can be considered a personal review of one's real life and creativity, which - thanks to its approach - goes beyond the personal framework. In this piece of work, Vilikovský (re)presents and critically reflects his life experience, joys, traumas, loves (more precisely: intimate relationships), friendships, and creativity very openly and in detail. All of this using his usual creative instruments, i.e. intellectual scepticism, grotesque optics, irony, self-irony and inimitable mastery of language and...
Bohemica Olomucensia 2022, 14(3):272-295 | DOI: 10.5507/bo.2022.048
The objectives of this study are twofold. The first is to analyse two novels by Božena Správcová, The Worshippers of the Circles and The Gift. The second is to characterize how Czech literary criticism reacted to the change of genre and authorial strategies.
