Prolegomena to Czech Post-November Literature

Abstract

While literary history normally avoids using political milestones to define literary epochs, we can hardly ignore that (particularly when it comes to modern Czech literature) historical events and social changes had a direct impact on the quality of literary life and its products. In the nearly one hundred years since the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state we can identify several periods, each of which tended to last for about twenty years each. Defined by changes in the political landscape, each of them likewise offered distinctly different conditions for literary undertakings, reader reception, relations between the authorities and the creative individual. This study describes the forms and functions of art as reflected in the choice of topics and formal execution, as well as in the emergence of trends, covering interwar literature (1918–1938), post-February literature (1948–1968), Normalization era literature (1969–1989) and, most recently, post-November literature (1989–present).