Original scientific paper
Towards the Temporality of Narrative in the Nineteenth-Century Czech Historical Fiction: a Model of Dramatic Dialogue
Kateřina Piorecká
; The Institute for Czech Literature
Abstract
Historical fiction, as well as a fiction situated in the near past, is often based on “patriotic themes”, whether historical, local or social, often predicated on the narrative process common to the genre of drama. The plot is directly presented “at the scene” by characters who conduct dialogue, while the descriptive or characterizing component is strongly suppressed.
All anachronisms are parts of characters’ speech and thus do not disturb the otherwise linear
narrative of the omniscient narrator or make it unreliable. The roots of this model, which survives in prose for a very long time, can be found not only in the
dominance of the dramatic genre in Czech culture at the turn of the nineteenth century, but also in the Jungmann concept of Czech culture. Concurrently we emphasize oral narration as a characterizing element of a national or religious community. The episodic structure is typical for oral culture and placing of retrospective narratives exclusively into the realm of characters’ speech, their dialogues and monologues, can be attributed to the evocation of oral culture which constitutes the collective memory as the ultimate goal of the Czech patriotic society.
Keywords
the Czech historical fiction of the nineteenth century; representations of the nation; temporality; dramatic dialogue
Hrčak ID:
249456
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2020.
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