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In the context of the current discussion about the ethical boundaries of humor, the study attempts to show that an approach based on Mukařovský’s functional theory is not only applicable to the discussion but also competitive. In the first part of the article, the author tries to answer the question of inserting a joke into the field of functions. He understands a joke as a sign that has in its most typical version a dominant f ictive-communicative function. It is precisely in the dominance of the fictive-communicative function of the joke that he sees the reason for the borderline position of the joke between art and life. The fictiveness of jokes creates, on the one hand, the impression that they have as fictitious statements greater independence from nonaesthetic norms, similar to what works of art have. On the other hand, because of the communicative moment jokes have more potential to offend us than do artifacts with a dominant aesthetic function. The second part of the study is dedicated to the relationship between the joke and the listener and attempts to describe other forms in which the semantic energy of the joke can reveal itself.

Dimensions of unintentionality: Jan Mukařovský — Julia Kristeva — Georges didi-Huberman. --- This article focuses on the concepts of intentionality and unintentionality introduced into the semiotics of the Prague Structural School by Jan Mukařovský. These terms are considered in the context of two other conceptual pairs: 1) the semiotic (lesémiotique) and the symbolic (le symbolique) by Julia Kristeva; and 2) the visual (le visuel) and the visible (le visible) by Georges Didi-Huberman. These concepts, created on the basis of French humanities, can be treated as a development on and complement to Mukařovský’s aesthetic theory.

The present article centers its focus on the conceptual clash involving selected definitions of the human and the non-human within the field of sign theory, particularly examining two nearly paradigmatic perspectives: structuralist semiology and Peircean semiotics. The text’s argumentation critically departs from the conventional viewpoint put forth by Ernest Cassirer. This perspective, widely prevalent not only in the humanities but also in the social sciences (e.g., M. Weber, T. Parsons) and even the natural sciences (e.g., T. Deacon), frequently regards the “symbol” as the defining boundary between the human and the non-human. The discussion further delves into the context of structuralist anti-humanism, which endeavors to redefine subjectivity by drawing from structural linguistics. Offering an alternative perspective to both Cassirerian and structuralist views of representation, the article introduces the semiotics of C. S. Peirce. According to John Deely, who serves as the primary source of inspiration for this paper, Peirce’s semiotics opens the door to a distinct, inferentialist, and methodologically more comprehensive understanding of the sign and the symbol, reshaping the understanding of the relationship between humans and the world inhabited by entities that, while they do not possess language, are capable of making inferences and employing signs – whether they be animals or machines. These nonlinguistic, non-representational yet communicative entities largely remained inconspicuous within structuralist semiology. Asubjective structures, seemingly waiting to be infused with human meaning, to be fully represented within the concept of language, to become subjects in a supposedly universal science of signs. At this juncture, the text departs from structuralist premises and, aligning with Peirce’s perspective, follows Deely in proposing that what sets apart human comprehension of signs from other forms of sign-interpretating agencies is the capacity to understand the sign as a sign. In essence, this represents the unique ability of human animals, even if unconscious, to engage in semiotics.

The paper introduces the concept of mnemopoetics, i.e., how songs are composed to be remembered, how they are shaped by oral memory as only the songs worth remembering were preserved by the community. After a brief discussion of ‘memory of the body’ (cf. Saussy 2016), the author introduces the formal mnemopoetic features (role of incipit, genre, rhythm, dialogue, incremental repetition, strophic arrangement, etc.). In the second part, he focuses on the semantic mnemopoetic role of incipit parallelism, which announces what will happen next in the song-story (cf. Andersen 1985; Marčok 1980; Bartmiński 2016). He then analyzes the first part of Jan Poláček’s song-collection from Moravian Slovakia (Slovácké pěsničky, 1936) and distinguishes nine main groups of songs with the incipit parallelism variously announcing: 1. erotic desire, 2. courtship, 3. longing for marriage, 4. an obstacle in the way of love, 5. a sinister omen leading to a bad outcome, 6. disappointment, 7. parting, 8. death; and 9. joyousness. For example, the image of ‘running water’ in the first verse suggests an unhappy development in the love affair portrayed by the song. The study further verifies the validity of six most prominent identified announcements on the broader material of František Sušil’s (1860) classical collection of Moravian folksongs. As suggested by fieldwork introduced in the study, traditional singers from Moravia and western Slovakia are typically aware of the ‘second’ meaning in songs, and this awareness of song symbolism helps singers — and readers — not only to remember songs better, but to do them justice when interpreting them. More broadly, the study represents a contribution to the methodological analysis of symbolism in traditional song lyrics.

This study discusses the approach of Karel Hausenblas (1923-2003), an important Czech linguist and Bohemist, towards literary theory. The main objectives of the study are: 1) to outline the basic theoretical and methodological principles of Karel Hausenblas's scholarly research; 2) to present Hausenblas's conception and treatment of selected terms from literary theory (especially "theme", "literary character" and "space"). The author of the study demonstrates that the theoretical assumptions and methodological principles on which Hausenblas based his stylistic research draw significantly from Czech structuralism, formulating six of his most important theoretical and methodological principles. The outline of his treatment of such literary-theory concepts as "theme", "literary character" and "space" make it clear that Hausenblas was not looking for a fundamentally new conception, but was much more concerned about their precise definition and correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Slavica Litteraria is the property of Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper introduces the concept of mnemopoetics, i.e., how songs are composed to be remembered, how they are shaped by oral memory as only the songs worth remembering were preserved by the community. After a brief discussion of ‘memory of the body’ (cf. Saussy 2016), the author introduces the formal mnemopoetic features (role of incipit, genre, rhythm, dialogue, incremental repetition, strophic arrangement, etc.). In the second part, he focuses on the semantic mnemopoetic role of incipit parallelism, which announces what will happen next in the song-story (cf. Andersen 1985; Marčok 1980; Bartmiński 2016). He then analyzes the first part of Jan Poláček’s song-collection from Moravian Slovakia (Slovácké pěsničky, 1936) and distinguishes nine main groups of songs with the incipit parallelism variously announcing: 1. erotic desire, 2. courtship, 3. longing for marriage, 4. an obstacle in the way of love, 5. a sinister omen leading to a bad outcome, 6. disappointment, 7. parting, 8. death; and 9. joyousness. For example, the image of ‘running water’ in the first verse suggests an unhappy development in the love affair portrayed by the song. The study further verifies the validity of six most prominent identified announcements on the broader material of František Sušil’s (1860) classical collection of Moravian folksongs. As suggested by fieldwork introduced in the study, traditional singers from Moravia and western Slovakia are typically aware of the ‘second’ meaning in songs, and this awareness of song symbolism helps singers — and readers — not only to remember songs better, but to do them justice when interpreting them. More broadly, the study represents a contribution to the methodological analysis of symbolism in traditional song lyrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on the linguistic work of Lubomír Doležel, a Czech -- Canadian philologists and theoretician. This part of the author's oeuvre can be demarcated historically by the 1950s and 1960s and also methodologically by Marxist linguistics, structuralist linguistics and literary theory, and mathematical linguistics. The study declares and analyses the development of the author's approach to linguistic inquiry -- starting from his general linguistic thought and moving towards the application of structuralist and mathematical methods for the purpose of the analysis of style, which ultimately led the author to the articulation of essential methodological axioms of his further literary theoretical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on the relationship between (post)structuralist philosophical thinking about language and mind, and between language as an instrument of such inquiry and a means of exteriorizing its results. This makes the topic important for both philosophers and linguists. I pay particular attention to Jaroslav Peregrinʼs text How we Constructed our own Mind. The text is part of the SYNv10 corpus. This enables a view of the popularization philosophical study through the prism of corpus statistics. I focus on the frequency of the parts of speech. I deal with the properties of the most frequent representatives of important parts of speech and their grammatical categories, especially the verbal person and relative pronouns. Particles are a means of introducing a human dimension into the text. The representation of particles for the certain modality is especially surprising. Modal verbs, indefinite pronouns and indefinite pronominal adverbs aid their effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to reconstruct the impact of information theory (and cybernetics) on literary theory (semiotics) during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the directions in which the same paradigm came to inspire 1960s Czech experimental poetry. Given the limitations of information theory vis-à-vis some crucial questions of communication, what was the foundation of this inspiration? The first part of the study concentrates on various important modifications of the paradigm in the context of information aesthetics (Max Bense), information poetics (Umberto Eco) and structuralist literary theory (Miroslav Červenka). The second part explores the position of the ‘information’ current within the context of 1960s Czech experimental poetry, including its avant-garde antecedents. The third part focuses on the experimental texts of Zdeněk Barborka, whose work is notable for being situated at the crossroads of several different tendencies. Finally, the study raises the question concerning the deeper implications of the ‘information moment’, with the suggestion that they might be found in the context of the development of media (communication) technologies as well as the genealogy of the media discourse, which emerges at this ‘moment’ from its prehistory to enter into its actual historical phase.

The work of Vladislav Vančura has attracted the attention of literary theorists from the very beginning. Among other attempts to get a theoretical grip, those offered by Jan Mukařovský and Lubomír Doležel provide us with two different but methodologically connected approaches to the author's work. These represent two phases of Czech structuralist thought about literature. This study critically compares both approaches and highlights their similarities and dissimilarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the aesthetic views that Vladislav Vančura formulated in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Vančura sympathetically followed the emergence of Prague structuralism and its concepts. The dominant role of the aesthetic function in art met his requirement for "poeticity", while in Vančura's works the structuralists found suitable material to support their concepts. Jan Mukařovský wrote about Vančura in a positive light not only in the 1930s and 1940s, but also later on, when Vančura's works found themselves in potential conflict with the demands of "realism" and "the people". An example of the reverse case, i.e. a fundamental misunderstanding based on different ideas about literature, can be found in the criticism of Vančura's novel The Last Judgement by Ferdinand Peroutka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the origin and development of the friendship between the literary scholar Jan Mukařovský (1891-1975) and the writer Vladislav Vančura (1891-1942). Mukařovský's interpretations of Vančura's literary works are the main focus of the study. Both Mukařovský's published works and texts that were never published (e.g. university lectures) are analysed. On the basis of archival research, the author of the study proves that Mukařovský analysed Vančura's work much earlier than he published his first-ever work on Vančura in 1934. In the course of the 1940s to 1960s, Mukařovský published many texts on Vančura in which he remembered Vančura as a friend, poet, Communist and anti-fascist activist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concepts associated with the Structuralism of the Prague School are usually considered to respond to trends in continental philology, philosophy, and aesthetics of the 1920s and 1930s. The phenomenology of Roman Ingarden is thus viewed as a key source of inspiration for the concept of ‘concretization’ coined by Felix Vodička, a concept which would become one of the key terms of literary history. This article focuses on a less explored issue concerning the notion of meaning developed by Ingarden in his Das literarische Kunstwerk and its potential influence on the idea of meaning developed by Jan Mukařovský during the 1930s. The comparison highlights an important difference between the two concepts of meaning. While Ingarden focuses on the heterogeneity of elements involved in the production of meaning, Mukařovský aims rather at developing a universal notion of meaning as a synthetic process that operates the same way on all levels of the literary text. In this case, the author tends to consider the notion of meaning only in vague and general terms, illustrating the production of meaning at the micro level and then claiming that the same processes can be found at all higher levels.

The aim of the study is to present the course and basic conditions of the reception of Viktor Shklovsky's work in Slovakia. His works in the field of literary theory had a significant influence on the development of modern Slovak literary theory. Gradually, the public became acquainted with his literary work and his work in the field of film theory. However, as a representative of Russian formalism, he was rejected and banned in times of authoritarian political regimes. In the study we show what the response to his work was and what results he led to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Theatralia is the property of Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Knihovna is the property of Library Institute of the Czech National Library and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Theatralia is the property of Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aims to reconstruct the impact of information theory (and cybernetics) on literary theory (semiotics) during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the directions in which the same paradigm came to inspire 1960s Czech experimental poetry. Given the limitations of information theory vis-à-vis some crucial questions of communication, what was the foundation of this inspiration? The first part of the study concentrates on various important modifications of the paradigm in the context of information aesthetics (Max Bense), information poetics (Umberto Eco) and structuralist literary theory (Miroslav Červenka). The second part explores the position of the 'information' current within the context of 1960s Czech experimental poetry, including its avant-garde antecedents. The third part focuses on the experimental texts of Zdeněk Barborka, whose work is notable for being situated at the crossroads of several different tendencies. Finally, the study raises the question concerning the deeper implications of the 'information moment', with the suggestion that they might be found in the context of the development of media (communication) technologies as well as the genealogy of the media discourse, which emerges at this 'moment' from its prehistory to enter into its actual historical phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the collaboration between the private publisher Josef Portman (1893-1968) and one of his principal artists, Jan Konůpek (1883-1950). In particular, it considers the work in which Konůpek managed to free himself from the grasp of symbolism and assert progressive artistic tendencies, even if only in small details, in the manner of cubism, orphism, organic abstraction and surreal visions, that is to say, areas clearly quite remote from Portman. The dimension of this relationship is evidenced not only in the number of unique prints, but also in the extensive correspondence between the men in the years 1918-1949, which is stored in the Literature Archive of the Museum of Czech Literature. At the very beginning, it outlines the different expectations of each of them had. Nevertheless, the educated Konůpek, who was capable of persuasive argumentation, managed to influence the composition of Portman's literary range and became a gentle initiator of modern artistic tendencies without the publisher being aware of it. Therefore, no serious difference of opinion or personal crisis ever arose between them. Based on his study of the macroworld, Konůpek came to his expression of the metaphysical nature of man and the world, unearthly levitating bodily and physical interpenetrations and the aftermath of eruptive forces as if he were observing the cosmic environment from Earth, as a sample of the entire universe. It appears the same to all, in all places and at all times, and has neither a beginning nor an end. Drawing on Mukařovský's reflections on structuralism, the paper attempts to address why Konůpek's works from the 1940s in the Portman Fond of the Art Collections of the Museum of Czech Literature lack this 'cosmological principle'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines past, recent, and possible future directions in teaching of humanities, with focus laid on the present situation at the Slovak universities. The need of human society to preserve certain quality of education in humanities is demonstrated on the problem of interpretation. It is a frequent opinion that the content of our language is shaped by the interpretation of the world around us, or also of the texts alone. It is a problem, if the subject is not active in the interpretation within the educational system. As a consequence, the informational content of the teaching material is reduced which leads the student to the passive and uncritical acclaim of beliefs of various sorts. This is an unwanted phenomenon not only in the field of legal interpretation, but, above all, it is dangerous for proper function of democracy. Small group teaching is the proposed approach to achieve that the education will lead the students to perform active interpretation and therein motivate discourse and formation of a stable democratic society.

The essay mentions Černý’s hostile relationship to Jan Mukařovský, sums up its causes, and recapitulates the texts in which Černý comments on Mukařovský’s works and on structuralism in general. On the basis of these texts, the author concludes that Černý’s contributions on the topic of “structuralism” betray an a-priori polemic bias and show that his reading of structuralist works was slightly superficial. However, these texts should not be interpreted purely as an expression of personal antipathy. Černý’s critique of structuralism points out its resignation on value judgement. According to Černý, this lack leads to the inability of structuralism to turn to criticism or literary history. The author analyzes Černý’s understanding of these two disciplines, and tries to point out the deeper causes of the polemics. The core of the dispute still seems valid today.

Concepts associated with the Structuralism of the Prague School are usually considered to respond to trends in continental philology, philosophy, and aesthetics of the 1920s and 1930s. The phenomenology of Roman Ingarden is thus viewed as a key source of inspiration for the concept of ‘concretization’ coined by Felix Vodička, a concept which would become one of the key terms of literary history. This article focuses on a less explored issue concerning the notion of meaning developed by Ingarden in his Das literarische Kunstwerk and its potential influence on the idea of meaning developed by Jan Mukařovský during the 1930s. The comparison highlights an important difference between the two concepts of meaning. While Ingarden focuses on the heterogeneity of elements involved in the production of meaning, Mukařovský aims rather at developing a universal notion of meaning as a synthetic process that operates the same way on all levels of the literary text. In this case, the author tends to consider the notion of meaning only in vague and general terms, illustrating the production of meaning at the micro level and then claiming that the same processes can be found at all higher levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the biographical perspective of a scholar of German studies with positions formerly at the German universities of Bonn and Constance and now Charles University in Prague, the article describes the discussions about theory and literary studies since the 1980s. It focuses primarily on exchange processes among various (theoretical) cultures and at the end examines the reasons why certain obvious theory transfers had not taken place.

The text provides a commentary regarding Ferdinand de Saussure‘s research in anagrammatic poetry. The author first describes three phases of Saussure’s research (1906–1907, 1907–1908, 1908–1909) and explains various changes in his approach. Secondly, the author introduces the main tendencies in reception of Saussure’s “anagrammatic work” (Tel Quel, linguistics, psychoanalysis). Finally, a comparison is drawn between Saussure’s analysis of anagrams and his Course in General Linguistics.

The paper starts from a consideration of two variant critiques of structuralism: in 1935, Marxistoriented historians polemicized with Mukařovský’s concept of the development of literature; in 1951, Mukařovský himself presented a critique based in the ideology of the totalitarian regime. A comparison between the state of the scholarly debate in the 1930s and the latter event allows us to develop some more general characteristics of the ingerence of power ideology into scientific discourse and its paradigm. The focus of our inquiry is the question as to what allowed Mukařovský to perform this radical turn and adopt an ideological doctrine. What we find is that a link between the topics pursued in our argument — i.e. between the structuralist theory, an ideology in the service of power and the deformation of the scholarly paradigm — is provided by the position of the individual in history, in both artistic and social discourse. The gist of the matter is that with the weakening or even elimination of the individual’s role disappears the ethical dimension of the human relating to the world, disappears individual responsibility as an essential, irreducible part of one’s identity.

Both texts present a systematic survey of two elementary analytical categories of Structuralist thought — binarity and opposition, especially in their semionarratological implications. In “Binarity”, one structuralist version of binary analysis is described as a decomposition “of the continuum of the observed world along universal relational axes constituting logical oppositions (contradictions). An inventory of elementary binary oppositions is established, which form a paradigmatic matrix of the observed area and structure is as a relational system or network”. Within this method an apriori aspect can be sometimes distinguished when an elementary binary logical structure is assumed as a universal principle underlying the multiplicity of observable phenomena. According to another, yet different conception, used in the context of artificial linguistic simulations and computing, binarity is understood as a principle of reversible de/composition of code based on two elementary signals or elements (formalized, for instance, as +/- or 0/1), which makes further combinatorial descriptions and operations of the system possible. The genesis of binary method, beginning with G. W. Leibniz’s binary code on one hand and Ferdinand de Saussure’s structural linguistics on the other, is followed, including Trubetzkoy’s and Jakobson’s phonology, Claude Lévi-Strauss’s ethnology, Greimas’s structural semantics and ending with the fundamental critique of binarism formulated by Jacques Derrida through his notion of différance and his descriptions of temporalization of structure. In “Opposition”, Trubetzkoy’s non-binary oppositions (gradual, equipollent, isolated, ternary, n-ary oppositions) within phonology, Greimas’s semiotic square (two types of binary oppositions: contradiction, contrariety or Mukařovský’s notions of dynamic antinomies within functionalstructuralist aesthetics are further taken into account.

The interview is a part of the yet unpublished book of interviews carried out by J. E. Bor in the year 1944 with several significant representatives of the literary life in contemporary Slovakia (J. Smrek, M. Chorváth, M. Bakoš, J. Silan). The subject of the interview with Michal Považan is the specific poetics of Slovak Surrealism, which did not mechanically adopt the elements of French Surrealism e.g. in linking its production to Slovak poetic tradition. In this context Považan draws attention to Janko Kráľ´s poetry, whose work Slovak Surrealists creatively expanded. He also expresses his opinion about the concept of Structuralist criticism, the methods of which he used in analysing the works by J.C. Hronský (Jozef Mak and Gráč the Scrivener). Považan also comments in his interview on the topics which are related to the critical reflection of the contemporary literary life.

Copyright of Ceska Literatura is the property of ASCR Institute of Czech Literature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study focuses on a particular distinctive moment in the Czech and French history of literary thinking which took place in the latter half of the 1960s and which saw not only an encounter of Marxism and structuralism, but also a shift and radical change in the conception of literary structure. Marxist philosopher and historian Robert Kalivodapresents the development of Jan Mukařovský's structural literary aesthetics from a Marxist and Freudian perspective; according to him, Mukařovský's conception matured -- in association with the production and reflection of the interwar artistic avant-garde (Karel Teige) -- towards a conception of aesthetic function and value as transparent anthropic principles and work of art as a dynamic ensemble of extra-aesthetic functions and values. Simultaneously, the representative of French Althusserian Marxism Pierre Macherey formulates his conception of literary output as a specific mode in the production of speech and literary structure as a space of difference, in which the ideological universalizations of the period are unconsciously presented in a critical light. Within the Czech structuralist tradition -- and in harmony with its avant-garde pedigree -- a parallel conception then emerges within the works of Oleg Sus and Milan Jankovič of literary structure as a structure that is unconsolidated and unconsolidatable, as the process and action of meaning, the movement of contradictions that will not have culminated in a final and completed synthesis. Analysis of the internal contexts and interrelations of these conceptions leads us to interpret them as the movement of concurrent misses -- a radical change in the structure and the opening of its dialectics here has different resonances, caused by a different conception of the subject and the relationship between the work and the social structure -- and also a failed meeting, whose connections have for the most part hitherto escaped the attention of literary studies and philosphy historians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Area libraries functioning in times of communist totalitarianism are among the topics which it is possible to pay attention from different angles. Understanding the functioning and determinants of the existence of libraries at this time is also one of the keys to the broader reflection of communism as a historical stage in the development of the Czech Republic, while at the same time enabling a better understanding of how libraries work and look today. The research study seeks to provide a wider contextual insight into the issue. Design/methodology/approach - As part of a research study with work starting points structuralist historiography - based on the study of archival materials two specific libraries in South Moravia and literary-historical interpretations of the two authors try to show some aspects of the functioning of libraries and work with the Literary Fund. We do not follow the "great history" of the entire evolution of librarianship, but by focusing on concrete examples, we try to show some plasticity of this historical period. In historiography we also use work with archival sources, interpretation and literary-historical interpretation. Results - In the text, attention is paid to libraries in Znojmo and Břeclav, using the archive research of KISK students at the Faculty of Arts. We focus primarily on events that are associated with the library as a cultural and educational institution in a certain social context, and on their work with the fund. This view is complemented by a look at two typical period figures, Vašek Káňa and Jaroslav Frey. Originality/Value - The paper offers an approach combining different research methods and creating a new space for the research of the everyday life of two selected libraries, understood in a wider literary-historical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concepts musica artificiosa and rationality are part of modern aesthetic-philosophical discours of music. Arnold Schönberg and Anton Webern can be considered an originators of the discours of rationalism. Schönberg as a theoretician and composer revived the ancient topic of music history and brought it to the fore. Music of the 20th century discovered its potential of rationality, which was possible due to new relationships between the theory of music and composition, strong involvement of composers in a theoretical reflection of their music. A personal union of a theoretician, philosopher, aesthetician and composer led even to blurring of a traditional border line between theoretical reflection and composition. Composers of the darmstadt serial avant-garde epitomize this cultural phenomenon of rationalism, but the originator was A. Schönberg. Th. W. Adorno was first schönbergian aesthetician-theoretician who explored phenomenon of Schönberg's rationality in its ambivalency and possible negative implications. His analyses in confrontation with Schönberg's reflection are the point of departure of this study.

The essay mentions Černý's hostile relationship to Jan Mukařovský, sums up its causes, and recapitulates the texts in which Černý comments on Mukařovský's works and on structuralism in general. On the basis of these texts, the author concludes that Černý's contributions on the topic of "structuralism" betray an a-priori polemic bias and show that his reading of structuralist works was slightly superficial. However, these texts should not be interpreted purely as an expression of personal antipathy. Černý's critique of structuralism points out its resignation on value judgement. According to Černý, this lack leads to the inability of structuralism to turn to criticism or literary history. The author analyzes Černý's understanding of these two disciplines, and tries to point out the deeper causes of the polemics. The core of the dispute still seems valid today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to show the role of anthropological inquiry in the development of a new, interdisciplinary approach to food in culture - namely: food studies. Early anthropologists, for example, Bronislaw Malinowski and Edward Evans-Pritchard, stressed the social meaning of food while analyzing the outcome of their fieldwork. When the functional approach had been replaced by structuralism, the symbolic meaning of food was given priority. Therefore, Claude Lévi-Strauss constructed his famous culinary triangle to show the connection between culture and nature in human thought; however, the triangle was not based on his own fieldwork, but rather many examples from other works were used to support this theoretical approach. This paper shows that without the theoretical and practical contribution of these three anthropologists, the flourishing of food studies as a new discipline would have been seriously delayed.

The study is a comparison of the concept of a literary work, which represents an independent “world”, according to which that concept was created by representatives of the Prague school – J. Mukařovský a F. Vodička – in the context of the structural poetics and also in Lubomír Doležel´s theory of fictional worlds. The purpose is to (a) analyse Mukařovský ´s and Ingarden´s concept of “intentional reality“; (b) critically compare Doležel´s concept „fictional world“ with Vodička´s “fictional world“ and (c) explain Jungmann´s concept of fantastic poetry. The wider frame of the research is an attempt to answer the question what influenced Lubomír Doležel that instead of the “world“ of literary work he began to think about “fictional world “. Comparison of one of the primary theoretical concepts of the Prague school and the theory of fictional worlds ¬– term “world“, respective “fictive world“ (F. Vodička) with a term “fictional world“ (L. Doležel). Although the problematic of the reference of the Prague Linguistic School has not been systematically worked out, yet; the author of the study wants to point out the significance of University papers written by J. Mukařovský – “Filozofie jazyka básnického“ (The Philosophy of Poetic Language) – from a turn of the 30-ties of the 20th c.; there Mukařovský for the first time expressed his opinion that a language expression includes a double reference to reality. A base for his opinion was taken from a conception of R. Ingarden, who in his work Das literarische Kunstwerk (1931) considers a literary work an independent illustrated world. Comparing F. Vodička´s and L. Doležel´s theoretical approaches to a literary work the author of the study added the opinion that the “fictive world“ cannot be identified with the “fictional world“. While Vodička´s conception of a literary work as the “fictional world“ makes an accent on the aspect that while a literary work is a world representing a unique (literary) reality, it is also measured and compared with a concrete empiric reality; the L. Doležel´s term “fictional world” characterises a literary work as a world completely generated from a narrative text. On the setting of these analyses author shows that the source of Vodička´s conception of a literary works as a fictional world comes from an older conception of a fantasy poetry and “fictional (fantasy) world“. The author of it is an important Czech scholar Josef Jungmann (1773-1847). An extra attention is paid to comparing Jungmann´s and Doležel´s suggestion of a typology of fictional and fictive worlds. It is apparent from the detailed analysis of Doležel´s conception of the fictional world that an expression “world” was transformed in the context of his new research goals regarding to issues of semantics, literary fiction, logics, and theory of possible worlds. But it does not mean that he left his methodological (structural) bases. The study brings a detailed analysis of the terms “fictive world” (F. Vodička) and “fictional world“ (L. Doležel). It points out that they cannot be used as synonyms as they differ from each other in the references. He also look in a new way at forgotten Jungmann´s project of the fantasy poetry and suggests its further research and in the ranks of the theory of the fictional worlds.

The article tries to answer the question: Why the publication of The Order of Things aroused the polemics about M. Foucault's being a structuralist? Unlike structuralism, Foucault's archeology introduces semantic structures into history: he examines the dramatic rearrangement of words and things in history to unveil the historical background of the production of the period-related, transitory, discontinued, relative knowledge. In the author's view, this method is contradictory in itself as it does not consider its own politics of meaning: While describing the three ways of the epistemic generating of representations Foucault nevertheless ascribes the arbitrary representation of things by words to the only épistémé, namely the „classical" one. It is the later Foucault who reflects on the ethics of meaning, which unveils the production of representation in every politics of meaning, even in its own one, creating thus the meta-representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This volume aims at presenting several newspapers written in German, specifically the Prager Presse, Slavische Rundschau, Germanoslavica and Prager Rundschau, that were established in the interwar Czechoslovak Republic under the cooperation of members of both the German and Czech ethnic groups. The relation of these newspapers towards the Prague Linguistic Circle, which was covered especially by the Prager Presse, is discussed in detail in the main study, as well as the activities of the German members of the Circle who contributed to the given periodicals on regular basis, and of Antonín Stanislav Mágr, a paragon of scientific journalism as the members of the Circle called him. The author argues that the publishing and other activities of the newspapers and the Circle not only represent one step on the path towards the institution of modern scholarship, but also a means of its promotion and popularization. The study is supplemented by an annotated bibliography of the articles on the activities of the Circle in the Prager Presse, Slavische Rundschau, Germanoslavica and Prager Rundschau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The name of Olga Srbová (16. 7. 1914-14. 4. 1987) has almost fallen into oblivion, as she stopped to use her maiden surname after she entered into marriage with actor Jaromír Spal, being known as Olga Spalová since then. Therefore, she is mostly known for her later, post-war engagement in radio; but the first stop in her career, and her life's love, was theatre. Olga Srbová started her university studies in 1933, receiving Ph.D. degree from Czech and French Language and Literature at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in 1937 (dissertation: "The Characteristics of the new Czech historical novel"). Among her teachers were, according to her student's record book, J. Mukařovský, A. Pražák, F. X. Šalda, M. Weingart, V. Tille and others. Firstly, she thought of devoting herself to theatre theory; while only a few theoretical studies can be found in the scope of her works, they nevertheless testify that Srbová mastered the methods of her teachers with skill and understanding: "The Character in New Drama" (Word and Verbal Art 3 (1937): 4: 221-226) contributes to the changes of the concept of a character in the contemporary theatre; in the "Authorial Stage Directions" (Life 15 (1937): 3-4: 98) she explores the influence of the contemporary stage practice on the nature of stage directions. As many others of her generation she admired the new media - film and radio; to the latter she devoted a booklet Radio and Verbal Art (Praha: Vyšehrad, 1941), even now valued as one of the most important works of the time. Until 1946 she wrote mostly theatre reviews, having started publishing in the renowned Students' Journal in 1927. There she published her first poems and short stories, and in a short time (from 1930 on) also essays on theatre and theatre reviews. She published in other periodicals too (in more than 30 between 1931 and 1976), the height of her career as a critic being the cooperation with the daily newspaper Práce (after 1945). Being well versed in the whole of the contemporary theatre, both Czech and European one, she could comment with equal expertise on drama, stage speech, verse speaking, character building, direction, set design, actors training, and theatre theory. However, the most interested she was in actors' work; the indisputable top of her attempts at portraying actor is the Theatre or the Book of Dreams (Praha: Odeon, 1975), the story of the actor's career of Eduard Kohout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores theoretical works and managing activities of Czech set-designer Miroslav Kouřil (1911-1984). First part is devoted to two crucial periods in Kouřil's professional life: his career of a stage designer, and the following involvement in theoretical reception of theatre and practical organization of theatre life in the then Czechoslovakia. In the second part, attention is drawn to Kouřil's presidency over the Czech Scenographic Institute, and to the project of the Encyclopaedia of the Set Design managed by him. In the third part, the author concerns with Kouřil's theoretical works, especially the way in which he used structuralist methodology to analyse theatre productions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on careful study of archival materials the study presents the research, newspaper writing and political activities of Jiří Veltruský, covering especially the years of his studies at university and after the WWII. The author pinpoints, for example, Veltruský's theatre activities with secondary- school students in the Avant-Garde Theatre Group of the Youth, his political engagement, and close relations to Záviš Kalandra and Karel Teige, and the Surrealists. The gist of the study represents an analysis of as yet unpublished introductory paragraphs of the renowned lecture by Veltruský, published as 'Dramatický text jako součást divadla' (Dramatic text as a Component of Theatre, 1941), which include a relevant polemic discussion with the previous structural theatre theories (esp. the ones by Honzl and Bogatyrev). The author of the study, therefore, suggests a reinterpretation of the decade between 1930 and 1940 when the interest of Prague Structuralists in theatre theory culminated as a period of negotiating and re-thinking the structuralist ideas over theatre performance. The historical circumstances, especially Veltruský's emigration to Paris in 1948, then prevented a satisfactory conclusion of the discussions and caused petrification of texts which may not have originally been meant to become a canon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores the exchange of impulses and ideas between the three fields indicated in the title, presenting Petr Bogatyrev as their mediator. It is concerned, among other things, with Bogatyrev connecting the findings of French sociologically-oriented ethnologists, such as Emil Durkheim and Luciene Lévy-Bruhl, and German ethnologists (Hans Neumann) to the theories of the Prague Linguistic Circle and their influence of Jan Mukařovský' sociology of art. The author focuses on the way in which Bogatyrev combines the formal and sociological perspectives, and applies them on different cultural phenomena (folk beliefs, folk art, high art) as they move between different cultural strata. Another point of inquiry is the collaboration of Bogatyrev and theatre director E. F. Burian, whose montage of folk poetry is presented in the paper as a theatrical enactment of Bogatyrev's structural-functional method, i.e. the transformation of function, structure, and meaning in transition between folk and high art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The paper brings out additional information regarding the life and work of Czech scholar Arnošt Gerad (1916–1942). His papers on Judaism and his linguistic contributions are presented and briefly commented.

Interpretative processes focusing on motives of thought, utilized in analyses of literary works, are based on various philosophical theories. This paper deals with structuralist approach to extra-aesthetic values of belles-lettres in Jan Mukařovský's work, and phenomenological interpretation of belles-lettres in Jan Patočka's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text provides a commentary regarding Ferdinand de Saussure's research in anagrammatic poetry. The author first describes three phases of Saussure's research (1906-1907, 1907-1908, 1908-1909) and explains various changes in his approach. Secondly, the author introduces the main tendencies in reception of Saussure's "anagrammatic work" (Tel Quel, linguistics, psychoanalysis). Finally, a comparison is drawn between Saussure's analysis of anagrams and his Course in General Linguistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the ancient Mesopotamian Myth of Etana. The main problem of interpretation lies in linking the different parts of the myth together. Therefore, my aim is to investigate the possibilities of understanding the myth as a whole, in which every part of the story is essential. By viewing it structurally, I present its motives as being interconnected, at the same time taking into account the development of the narrative. In my view, Etana becomes king throughout the whole myth, not just once at its beginning. Since kingship is a mediatory role, Etana has to relate himself to the godly as well as to the natural spheres. His healing of an eagle represents a new, healthy relationship with nature. I argue that the eagle is symbolically attached to the begetting of children, on the basis of wordplay in Akkadian which reminds us of the so called aetites, eagle stones. The eagle, a symbol of pregnancy, becomes domesticated and helps Etana acquire offspring. Their ensuing flight to heaven represents Etana's acquisition of royal insignia and at the same time of godly blessing in general. His becoming king and begetting offspring appear, in fact, to be the same turning points within the story, viewed from different perspectives. On another level, the myth can be seen as aetiological. Since the scene of Etana's healing of the eagle is loaded with birth symbolism, the eagle can become the one who helps others beget and give birth to children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the method of archeological description and inspired by the ideas of Michel Foucault, the author of this study presents the aesthetic thinking of Marxist theorist Robert Kalivoda (1923-1989). This study focuses particularly on an analysis of Kalivoda's text "Dialektika strukturalismu a dialektika estetiky" -- "The dialectic of structuralism and the dialectic of aesthetics", which makes up the first part of his book "Moderní duchovní skutečnost a marxismus" -- "Modern intellectual reality and Marxism" (1968). Together with Karel Kosík and Ivan Sviták, Robert Kalivoda belonged to a generational group of Marxist philosophers who from the latter half of the 1950s endeavoured to open up Marxism to critical stimuli as well as to other non-Marxist methodologies over the course of time. Kalivoda's aesthetic thinking developed at the crossroads of two discourses: Marxist and structuralist. Using structuralism Kalivoda criticizes the Hegelian foundation of Marxist aesthetics and the principle of "reflective reading" -- while stressing the semiotic nature of the artistic work. On the other hand Kalivoda also uses Marxism as an instrument for criticizing structuralism wherever he believes that Jan Mukařovský diverges from a radically formalistic standpoint and espouses phenomenological inspiration in an undesirable manner. Kalivoda was not attempting a historical reconstruction of the theoretical development of structuralism, but he was presenting his own interpretation of this scholarly view. Kalivoda's efforts were motivated by the philosophical aim of destroying metaphysics and creating a post-metaphysical dialectical theory. This study attempts to set Kalivoda's aesthetic thought in context inter alia by means of short comparisons with 1960s structuralist thinking, particularly with the ideas of Kvetoslav Chvatík and Milan Jankovic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study briefly outlines the history of narratology from its beginnings in France in the 1960s to the present. It presents basic theoretical and methodological starting points used in a narratological research of narration, the most important theoretical concepts and directions and their representatives. It is divided into three parts, in which the author deals with three stages of development of this discipline in detail. The first stage represents the "classical narratology" substantially shaped by Structuralism. The second stage corresponds with the development of the "post-classical narratologies" (comparative, applied, ethnic narratologies). The third stage, the "new narratology", strives to return to the Structuralist beginnings of the field, though it focuses more closely on the study of context and analysis of the anthropological sources of narration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]