CZECH LITERATURE 1945-1956

CZECH LITERATURE 1945-1956

First wave of post war literature was strongly political, thanks to the "liberating Red Army". Collectivistic influences.

Debates about the direction of post-war literature. Congress of Czech Writers (1946). Some authors wanted to force through socialist methods, others (critic Václav Cerný, although not being "against socialism") demanded creative freedom. Cerný: "artist must always be in conflict with society".

The literary trends before February 1948:

· "realistic revolutionaries" (Majerová, Pujmanová, Rezác, Nový)

· "revolutionary avantgardists", wishing to develop the legacy of the pre-war avantgarde, esp. in poetry (Nezval, Biebl)

· "pure poetry" (critic Václav Cerný stressed the importance of Paul Valéry)

· analytical, depersonalising fiction (examples of Joyce, Proust)

· Group of poets around Kamil Bednár, which had formed during the war, was now very close to existentialism and the individual human being.

· civilist, anti-illusion, "casual" writers (Jirí Kolár, Ivan Blatný, Josef Kainar) - poetry of the every day

· Brno surrealists (Ludvík Kundera, Vratislav Efffenberger)

· young Catholic poets.

After the communist takeover in February 1948, all this, with the exception of communist "revolutionaries", was swept aside.

A.A. Zhdanov (Russian "theoretician") - his speeches published in Czech in 1947, then still provoked a strong negative reaction.

Czech communist hardliner Ladislav Štoll, "Thirty years of the struggle for Czech socialist poetry" (January 1950) - denounced Josef Hora, František Halas, Jaroslav Seifert and the whole Czech avant-garde

Special emphasis on continuity with Czech 19th century classics. Alois Jirásek (1851-1930, favourable to the Hussites, whom the communists saw as their predecessors. But in political terms, Jirásek had been a reactionary, the writer of sentimentally patriotic middle classes.)

Campaigns against cosmopolitism. Rejection of all modern art movements as "degenerate". Even the work of pre-war left wing critics, who welcomed the Czech avant-garde was shunned. (Bedrich Václavek, Kurt Konrad). Only Dickens, Shakespeare allowed. Contemporary Western literature ceased to exist.

Schematic images of "socialist realism". Jan Drda became head of the Writers'Union

socialist realistic works:

Václav Rezác, The Line Up (1951), The Battle (1954). Pujmanová.

Stalin died in 1953, but the thaw was slow.

From mid-1950s, authors going away from socialist realism.

Karel Ptácník, Born 1921 (1954) young men, forced to work in the German Reich

Norbert Frýd, The Box of the Living (1956)

Jan Otcenášek, Citizen Brych (1955)

Political events of 1956: Poland, Hungary. No liberalisation in Czechoslovakia, but 2nd Writers' Congress (1956), which took place shortly after the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, where Party Leader Khruschev spoke about Stalin's crimes. This confused the Czech Communist party. Czech writers (JAROSLAV SEIFERT) spoke up against the imprisonment of Catholic poets Jan Zahradnícek, Josef Knap, František Krelina, Josef Palivec.

Importance of the Literary Gazette weekly, which reported what happened at the Congress. People began to trust it.

New monthly magazine Kveten (May) - younger writers. "Poetry of the weekday". Most major writers from the 1960s started in Kveten (Holub, Klíma).

Translations from Western literatures. Necessity to rehabilitate authors by "afterwords". Major translator: Josef Škvorecký.

1956: Edvard Valenta, Follow the Green Light, a psychological study of an intellectual living during the Second World War. Valenta had been banned between 1948 and 1956

Poetry by František Hrubín, spiritual poet who for six years wrote only (excellent) poetry for children. Hrubín's play A Night in August (1958), gentle study of psychological conflicts.

Arnošt Lustig (b. 1926), two books of short stories, based on personal experiences from concentration camp: Night and Hope (1958), The Diamonds of the Night (1958), examining what happens to Man directly facing evil.

Movement away from collective responsibility seen everywhere: Jan Otcenášek, Romeo, Juliet and the Darkness (1958).