The Spring Man of Prague. Czech Versions of Spring-heeled Jack Narratives between Folklore and Popular Culture
2020
Abstract
The paper interprets phenomenon of folkloric character of the Spring Man in broader historical, social and pop-cultural context. Fictional hero of Czech and German rumours, contemporary legends and anecdotes which were popular mostly during the Second World War, the narratives about the Spring Man represent a regional version (ecotype) of a international migratory legend about the originally English jumping urban phantom Spring-heeled Jack.
Similarly to his English predecessor, the Czech Spring Man became hero of popular culture, which, after 2002, rebranded this originally ambivalent urban apparition to "first Czech superhero" of cartoons, comics books and movies