Syllabus
1. The cursed poets and the theme of faith.
2. Czech modernism and Christian morality.
3. Charles Péguy. Bohuslav Reynek.
4. Léon Bloy a Josef Florian.
5. Bohuslav Reynek and Suzanne Renaud.
6. Le Rosseau D'Or and Georges Bernanos.
7. Paul Claudel, the universal and Czech inspirations.
8. Jakub Deml and Otokar Březina.
9. Dramas of F. X. Šalda and religious themes.
10. Biblical elements in the works of K. Čapek.
Annotation
The lecture offers overall orientation in chosen aspects of literary modernity which can be detected in the artistic and art-related discourse from the 2nd half of 19th century onwards. It examines specific expressions of modernity and modernism throughout the European literature of the 20th century with close attention to the spiritual emphases that were present in this discourse.
Motto: “Catholicism brought a terrible sacrifice to its (understandable, but uncontrolled) fear of “time”: most part of the spiritual elite between 1830 and 1950 (Heer, The Intellectual History of Europe)