The Deserts of Bohemia: Czech Fiction and Its Social Context

256 Pages·2000·1.6 MB·English

by  Peter Steiner

THE DESERTS OF BOHEMIA

The Deserts
of
Bohemia
CZECHFICTIONANDITSSOCIALCONTEXT
P S
ETER TEINER
cornell university press
ithaca and london
Copyright ' 2000 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof,
must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street,
Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2000 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steiner, Peter.
The deserts of Bohemia : Czech fiction and its social context / Peter Steiner.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8014-3717-2 (cloth)
1. Czech fiction(cid:209)20th century(cid:209)History and criticism. 2. Czech Republic(cid:209)Civilization.
I. Title.
PG5011 .S74 2000
891.8’6305(cid:209)dc21 99-055905
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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
TO HENRY HOENIGSWALD
Antigonius:Thou art perfect, then, our ship hath touched upon
The deserts of Bohemia?
Mariner: Aye, my lord, and fear
We have landed in ill time. The skies look grimly
And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,
The Heavens with that we have in hand are angry
And frown upon(cid:213)s.
(cid:209)William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Politics or Poetics: An Introduction 1
1. Tropos Kynikos: The Good Soldier Svejkby Jaroslav Hasek 25
2. Radical Liberalism: Apocryphal Storiesby Karel Capek 69
3. The Past Perfect Hero: Julius Fuc(cid:146)k and Reportage: Written
from the Gallows 94
4. The Poetics of a Political Trial: Working People vs. Rudolf
Sl(cid:135)nskyand His Fellow Conspirators 151
5. Ironies of History: The Jokeby Milan Kundera 196
6. Cops or Robbers: The Beggar’s Operaby V(cid:135)clav Havel 218
Index 241
vii

Acknowledgments
W
riting a book about a relatively small culture far from the shores of the
Delaware River is, of necessity, a collective undertaking. So it is a pleasure
finally to be able to thank in print all of those without whose kind help my
access to Czech materials would have been far too limited to carry out
such a project: Jarom(cid:146)r Adamec, Libuse Benesov(cid:135), Libuse Eli(cid:135)sov(cid:135), Viktor
Faktor, Pavel M(cid:135)nek, Zuzana Nagy, Ivan Poledn(cid:135)k, Miroslav Proch(cid:135)zka,
Jan Rubes, Michal Schonberg, Ivan Spirk, Zdenek Stary, Pavel Vosicky.
I am also grateful to the readers(cid:209)Mike Holquist and Josef Skvorecky(cid:209)
for suggestions that improved the book, and to Bernhard Kendler, the ex-
ecutive editor of Cornell University Press, who made smooth sailing of
(cid:210)my voyage to Ithaca.(cid:211)
My special regard goes to Jean Gurley whose all-encompassing linguis-
tic assistance combined with an indomitable patience helped to make the
peculiar idiolect of mine more English-compatible.
Furthermore, I was exceptionally fortunate to receive the support nec-
essary for my research from several grant-giving agencies: the Rockefeller
Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities (during the
early stages of my project); the American Council of Learned Societies (at
its middle stages); and the Research Support Scheme of the Higher Edu-
cation Support Program (whose travel grant No. 539/95 facilitated its
conclusion). Without their generous financial aid, this book would never
have come about.
P. S.
ix