An Introduction to Twentieth Century Czech Fiction: Comedies of Defiance by Robert Porter (review)

Abstract

262 Reviews An Introduction to Twentieth Century Czech Fiction: Comedies ofDefiance. By Robert Porter. Brighton and Portland: Sussex Academic Press. 2001. ix + 209 pp. ?45.00 (pbk ?15.00). ISBN 1-902210-80-8 (pbk 1-902210-81-6). During the greater part ofthe twentieth century Czech writers were doomed to create their works under the sword of Damocles, whether it took the form of the censorship of the Austro-Hungarian state at the beginning of the era, or the Nazi suppression near its middle, or the Communist stifiing,intimidating atmosphere for most of the second half of the century. They were not silenced?it was just that, if they could not express themselves fully and freely,they often camouflaged their defiance with laughter, irony,satire, or black comedy. Robert Porter's book is subtitled 'Comedies of Defiance', but it is far more than that. He has managed to squeeze his material into a study of just nine representative authors (seven chapters), but hosts of names, works, themes, and comments file past for comparison and assessment. The author's wide knowledge of Czech as well as other literatures is only too obvious. The felicitous selection of the nine representatives has resulted in deeper studies of their most important works: these are analysed, interpreted, evaluated, and moreover?by way of comparison?set into the broader framework of other contemporary literatures. Thus, Hasek's The Good Soldier &vejk features (rightly or wrongly?) alongside T. E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom and?less prominently?with Sholokhov's The Quiet Don. Although Hasek's and Kafka's lifestyles differed diametrically, they both 'discovered thevworld of the self (p. 19) in their works. Importantly, we are also reminded that Svejk is not the only creation of Hasek: he wrote many other prose works which combine life and art. Karel Capek, as the main representative of Czech literature abroad during the inter-war period,gets well-deserved attention in this book, although Porter considers as a weakness Capek's use of his characters as vehicles for his ideas, which I believe to be a deliberate device for a good purpose. Rather than praising the innovative, highly acclaimed philosophical trilogy Hordubal, Meteor, An Ordinary Life, Porter prefers Tales from Two Pockets, in which 'we can perceive the nuts and bolts of his art' (p. 48). Bohumil Hrabal appears here as the creator of 'small people and tall tales' (p. 52). In his penetrating study of Hrabal's works Porter admires his linguistic virtuosity, verging on the eccentric, and his great art as an inexhaustible raconteur, as Hrabal can entertain by blending the sublime with the commonplace and the horrific. Josef Skvorecky also figures here as an impulsive storyteller, but one who uses emigration 'as a literary device' (p. 118). He derives amusement from the linguistic quirks the Czech language has fallen prey to in emigration, but, in his works, particularly The Engineer ofHuman Souls, they are, in Porter's view, 'a small price to pay for the cosmopolitan riches that are on offer' (p. 116). In this chapter Porter is at his best, although he has not neglected any vital aspects of the other writers included in this book. The slim volumes of unaffected writing by the nature-lover Ota Pavel came out as a breath of fresh air in the tense atmosphere of the 'normalization' of the 1970s (and thus earned him space in this publication). Ivan Klima's 'conscience and moral conundrums ' (p. 136) may appear as a simple contrast to Pavel, but there is much more to Klima, as Porter does not fail to stress. Pointingout the temperamental affinity and spiritual relationship of Klima with Kafka, Porter detects a growing despondency in the former's novels; he sees his greatest power 'when he restricts himself to shorter forms' (p. 148). Three post-Communist 'new voices' of note can be heard in the con? cluding chapter?Daniela Hodrova, Michal Viewegh, and Jachym Topoi?as they represent wider literary trends. One cannot praise enough Porter's method of presenting Czech fictionof the twen? tieth century by the in-depth study of a few, but well-chosen, prose writers. He is MLRy 98.1, 2003 263 selective...