Der tschechische utopische Roman der Zwischenkriegszeit und "Palę Paryż" von Bruno Jasieński
Streszczenie
The study compares the Czech utopian novels written in the 20is and 30is of this
century with the novel Palę Paryż by the Polish author Bruno Jasienski (first published
in the French translation in 1930). There are several types of utopian novels in Czech
literature. The first type is represented by the novel Velkovyroba ctnosti (1922) written
by Jiri Haussmann and also by proses and dramas by Karel Ćapek. The study
primarily focuses on Ćapek's novel Tovarna na Absolutno (1922). The plots of these
works are based on revolutionary discoveries that entirely change human life but finally
lead to a catastrophe. The second type is represented by the proses of Jan Weiss,
mainly the novel Diim o tisici patrech). Developing a fantastic imagination of its own,
this work of art is closely related to surrealism. Ii is the picture ofi a monstrous
thousand-iloor house controled by a dictator Muller opposed by a detective Peter Brok.
Similar to Ćapek's works, this noveł is a warning against the unhuman, mechanical
technocracy.
The third type of Czech utopian novel, represented by Marie Majerova and her
novel Prehrada (1932) is closest to Jasieński. The utopian topic, i.e. a future revolutionary
takeover and the shift of the story into the future, are used by both Majerova and
Jasieński as an opportunity to criticise the contemporary society and to propagate the
communist future.
In his novel, Jasienski - similar to the above mentioned Czech authors - applies the
methods common to the modern lyricism and documentary poblicistics. His expressive
style, imagination, the negative depiction of the large metropolis as a chaos, and his
conception of the erotic make him close to Weiss. At the same time, there is a significant
difierence between the first part of Palę Paryż with its subjective perspective
close to Weiss, and two other parts, in which the novel changes into communist
agitation and its expressivity and imagination are oppressed by ideological
proclamations.
Collections