Stereotypical and "experimental" woman? Prolegomena to female characters in Alexandra Berková's writing
Abstract
Literary works of Alexandra Berková experience a peculiar fate: on one hand "it is known" that she was an incredibly talented writer, on the other hand literary scholars do not often examine her writing. Nevertheless, there is a consensus on at least two features of her work.
Firstly, that it can be divided into two categories: one that is "eminently artistic", the other - "more popular". Secondly, all the literary critics seem to agree that the author deals mainly with the topic of the fate of a woman and love relationships connected with it.
In my presentation, I attempt to connect these two fields and based on the analysis of several Berková's works I investigate if/how the construction of female characters differs depending on the chosen genre or on the presumed reader. Methodologically, my paper is based on widely understood feminist literary criticism that I attempt to define in the introduction.