Abstract
The study focuses on comparison of two "ideal types" of mythical Czech hero called "the spring man": the ambivalent and monstrous urban phantom of oral legends and rumours of the 20th century, and the idealized and positive mythical superhero of non-oral pop-cultural products of the 21st century. Attention is also given to "transitional" forms of these two polarizations of this character: the nostalgic and ideologised literary hero connected with children's literature and memoirs.
Differences between these two "ideal types" (phantom and superhero) are interpreted not only in terms of the content of narratives, but also genealogically, through comparison of various genres and rhetorical devices, and contextually, through analysis of changes in the aesthetic and cultural tastes of Czech audiences. Special attention is paid to the inherent nature of the different modes of collective memory involved in the dissemination of spring man narratives: communicative memory, using spoken word and shared time and space with other people (characterized by legend, rumour and personal experience narratives as main rhetorical tools used), and cultural memory, using symbolically coded texts materialized to non-oral media forms (especially popular literature, comics, film and drama).
This dynamic and almost dialectical proces of interplay between communicative and cultural memory, oral and popular culture, and private and public spheres characterises the peculiar character of the spring man in his many manifestations up to the present day.