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In search of a shared expression: Karel Čapek's travel writing and imaginative geography of Europe.

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2020

Abstract

The article deals with the monography of Mirna Solić, which is based on a narrative analysis of Čapek's travel writing, his travel writing books, namely Letters from Italy (Italské listy, 1923), Letters from England (Anglické listy, 1924), A Trip to Spain (Výlet do Španěl, 1930), Images from Holland (Obrázky z Holandska, 1932), A Journey to the North (Cesta na sever, 1936) and the posthumously published Images from Home (Obrázky z domova, 1953), which were originally published as feuilletons in the newspaper The People's Daily (Lidove noviny) and other periodicals of the time. The monograph demonstrates that Čapek's travel writing should be understood as a modernist experiment based on a variety of different artistic genres and types.

It argues that Čapek applied the experimental techniques used in travel writing not only to his literary works, but he also used them in the context of his political and cultural activities, when he travels abroad not only as an ordinary tourist but as a writer.