Abstract
This study analyses the use of perspective in the autobiographical trilogy (In-House Weddings, Vita Nuova and Gaps) and the late “journalistic” texts by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal. The article examines Hrabal’s play with perspective on several levels: on the narrative level, Hrabal experiments with the narrative voice and focalization, and views himself through the eyes of his wife Elisˇka, who is also the narrator of the whole trilogy; this strategy allows him to gain distance from the “I-perspective” and to touch upon sensitive moments of his life (particularly auto-censorship, his relationship with the Communist authorities, and various fears). Furthermore, Elisˇka’s view clashes with the view of Hrabal as a character in the narrative world, which results in an original autobiographical polyphony; the article presents a detailed scrutiny of these perspectives with regard to time. Drawing from hermeneutics as a way of self-understanding shaped by texts and culture, the analysis of perspectivity will demonstrate that Hrabal also views himself through the eyes of books and cultural images; additionally, the article points to parallels with Hrabal’s other works, particularly Too Loud a Solitude. Finally, Hrabal’s playful use of perspective concerns the question of identity: the textual self that appears in the stream of images manifests itself in constant motion, thus unveiling the non-substantiality and openness of human identity. In this way, Hrabal’s writing about himself approximates the view of self in Eastern philosophies (esp. Buddhism and Taoism − Hrabal’s sources of inspiration) as well as contemporary cognitive approaches to the theory of autobiography (Paul John Eakin).
Highlights
Hrabal’s writings about himself raise the following questions: What can we learn about ourselves when we look at ourselves through the eyes of others? How is our self-concept shaped by conscious and unconscious components of the human psyche and what role do convention and culture play in this process? And, what is the relationship between our identity and time? I will examine these questions in more detail
This study analyses the use of perspective in the autobiographical trilogy (In-House Weddings, Vita Nuova and Gaps) and the late “journalistic” texts by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal
Eliska’s view clashes with the view of Hrabal as a character in the narrative world, which results in an original autobiographical polyphony; the article presents a detailed scrutiny of these perspectives with regard to time
Summary
Leaving behind the perspective of “I” allows Hrabal to gain distance from himself and to reveal facts about himself that might prove difficult to express from the first-person perspective. The perspective of the other allows Hrabal to catch a glimpse of those areas of his own personality that Ego often conceals via defence mechanisms, marginalizes, or represses: Hrabal touches upon his wrongdoings, failures, and fears (he accounts for these fears by invoking his genes and a prenatal experience of a life-threatening situation).[11] By making Eliska the narrator, Hrabal can expose this part of himself while keeping a safe distance from it: he can talk about it without becoming too absorbed in it This effect results from the distance that an external perspective provides and from the way Eliska discusses Hrabal’s failures or fear: she usually uses irony or sarcasm, sometimes she presents them in the form of farce, grotesque, or a tall tale a la Hasek, sometimes she belittles her husband’s perspective by confronting it with another view or life attitude. This alternation of views or experiencing modes is firmly anchored in time, as I will show .[13]
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