"History of literature offers an exceptional illustration": Literature, modern world and consciousness in the book of Tereza Matějčková
Abstract
Tereza Matějčková is referring in her book to the literary pictures of the world: she comments on Hegelʼs philosophical interpretation of works of literature (Sophocles, Diderot, Goethe, Schiller) or interprets works of literature by authorsʼ of the 20th century (Semprún, Jünger, Marguerite Yourcenar). Her comments and interpretations deal with problems and topics, that essentially co-create the aesthetic-artistic and cultural-political mentality of the artistic avantgarde of the 20th century (mainly surrealism) and modernity.
In my article I deal with three topics: 1) The metaphor of Theatrum mundi, which Tereza Matějčková choose to name the title of the 8th chapter of her book; 2) evil, violence and the problem of the "abstract existence" in modernity and especially in surrealism; 3) the concept of "new mythologies" and "lyrization of the world" in the aesthetic essays of Karel Teige.