Czech literature and culture: readings

[Madelaine Hron]

Dear Curt --

Yeah -- Wellek is a classic, czech out the most famous piece he did on
Bohemia in a comparative perspective -- "Bohemia in English Lit." A
beut. But that is also very old...

For a fresher approach you might look at what contemprary authors have to
say about Czech literature, for example Skvorecky gave a keynote address
in which he comments on Czech lit in an Eastern European perspective, and
I believe also critiques Pynsent Western approach. I believe it's
called "Eastern European literature in transition" It's in the The Review
of Contemporary Fiction v. 17 (Spring 1997).

There is also Kundera who develops the whole notion of Czech lit and
"Central Europe". I know the Czech version is called "Unos Zapadu" and is
published in Promeny (Jan 86). Cross Currents had an issue devoted to
Central Europe in 1985; the Kundera might be in there. Kundera is also
featured in Cross Currents 12 (1993).

I don't know if this is what you are looking for, and the pieces are
relatively short and not comprehensive. I found another short article
online by some Kroutvor "Prague report: literature remains alive and well"
in TriQuarterly no94 (Fall 1995) p. 150-4. It is recent yes, but
alas short and it only deals with the recent post 89 literature.

In any case, perhaps this gives you a few more ideas... In any case have,
fun,

Preju Vam stesti!
Madelaine Hron

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dept. of Comparative Literature
2015 Tisch Hall
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1003

Tel (734) 763-2351
Fax (734) 764-8503
Email: mhron at umich.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Sat, 24 Aug 2002, curt fredric woolhiser wrote:

> Dear SEELANGers,
>
> I am teaching an interdisciplinary "Introduction to Russian, East
> European and Eurasian Studies" this semester, and have invited one of
> my colleagues (a specialist in Czech literature) to give a guest
> lecture on Czech literature and culture for the unit on East Central
> Europe. For a reading assignment connected with this lecture, I was
> hoping to find a good introductory essay in English on the history of
> Czech literature, preferably no more than 50 pages in length. Thus
> far, however, the only text of this type that my colleague has been
> able to find is a short 1968 article by Rene Wellek, "Czech
> Literature: East or West?" Can anyone out there recommend anything
> else along these lines, preferably something a little more recent?
>
> Srdec^né díky!
>
> Curt Woolhiser
>
> ========================================
> Curt F. Woolhiser
> Dept. of Slavic Languages
> and Literatures
> Calhoun 415
> University of Texas
> Austin, TX 78713-7217 USA
>
> Tel. (512) 232-9133, (512) 471-3607
> Fax: (512) 471-6710
> Email: cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu
> Slavic Department Home Page:
> http://www.dla.utexas.edu/depts/slavic/
> ========================================
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>   options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                   http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                  http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------