Syllabus
1. Franz Kafka and his literary legacy - we will focus on the basic biographical context, an overview of his most important literary works, the specifics of his unique author's style, and the main interpretive attention will be focused on his novel The Process and prose Before the Law.
2. Bohumil Hrabal as the author of short stories - we will follow the birth of Hrabal's personal poetics using the example of texts from the 1950s and 1960s, in which the author seeks literary syntax for raw material. Although the work appears to be radically apolitical, Hrabal is nevertheless the most authentic chronicler of the 1950s.
3. Ivan Blatný as the author of multilingual poetry - the seminar will present both the extraordinary fate of the poet, who spent most of his life in exile, as well as his poetic development, which resulted in verses on a multilingual principle.
4. Milan Kundera as an international writer - we will focus on Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), his most internationally renowned novel, in the context of his essayistic writing on Czech identity from the period.
5. Bohumila Grögerová, Naděžda Plíšková, Viola Fischerová - Linda Nochlin in her famous essay Why have there been no great women artist? reflects on the role of women in art history. The lecture asks what role have played in the history of Czech literature three women poets.
Annotation
The seminar will focus on the introduction of personalities of Czech literature of the 20th century. Each of the five teachers will present their perspective on the selected writer, together with the students they will analyse their specific literary style and explain the cultural-historical context of their work. The course will be taught exclusively in English and is designed primarily for incoming Erasmus students.
Learning outcomes, aims, goals:
The course aims to give students a basic orientation in the Czech literary environment (especially of the 20th century) by focusing on a few selected specific personalities, explaining the context of their work and the principles of their unique authorial styles. Students will then be able to analyze these texts and think about Czech culture in a broader context.