Hrabal’s Farewell to Literature: The Writer’s Late Accordion-fold Board Books Cover Image

Hrabalovo loučení s literaturou: prozaikova pozdní leporela
Hrabal’s Farewell to Literature: The Writer’s Late Accordion-fold Board Books

Author(s): Vladimír Novotný
Subject(s): Studies of Literature
Published by: Památník národního písemnictví
Keywords: change of style; feuilleton; open letters; Listopadový uragán (November hurricane); stylized letters; Dopisy Dubence (Letters to April); postmodern accordion-fold board book; conversational journalism

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the last period of Bohumil Hrabal’s (1914–1997) writing, particularly the late 1980s and early 1990s, when he was systematically developing distinctive essays mostly in the form of open letters. His late writing from this period was published in book form in 1990−94. Of his series of short works in prose, one would mention Listopadový uragán (The November hurricane), Aurora na mělčině (Aurora in the shallows), and Večerníčky pro Cassia (TV bedtime stories for Cassius). Of particular interest is Dopisy Dubence (Letters to Dubenka), a collection of stylized letters to April Gifford, an American student of Czech literature and language. Hrabal himself talked about his late writing as ‘literary journalism’. Critics often unflatteringly called these distinctive literary works postmoderně koncipovaná leporela – postmodern accordion-fold board books.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 46
  • Page Range: 65-70
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Czech