Review article
The Birth of the Czech Robinson. A Contribution to the History of Czech Re-Narrations of the Story Of Robinson Crusoe
Jiří Hrabal
; Palacký University Olomouc
Abstract
This study is concerned with Czech re-narrations of the story of Robinson Crusoe, and his transformations therein. Emphasis is placed primarily on the first Czech versions of the German re-narration Robinson der Jüngere by Joachim Heinrich Campe, on their form and circumstances, and on the context (including the Southern Slavic) of their origin, publication and reception within the Czech society of the day. It is these versions that predetermined the form of the story of Robinson Crusoe as it was transmitted within the Czech environment of the 19th century. With reference to the fact that no Czech translation of Defoe’s original novel existed, Czech society was familiar with this story predominantly in the version that was recreated for the requirements of youth education, which corresponded to the principles of German philanthropism. The author draws primarily upon direct source research (periodical journals and book editions from the late 18th and especially the 19th century). Based on this research, the author then revises certain partial inconsistencies of the previous literary-historical investigation and illustrates how Czech society in the 19th narrated a different version of the story from those versions that, after numerous transformations, affected the story in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Keywords
story; Robinson Crusoe; re-narration; edition; literary culture; 19th century
Hrčak ID:
324706
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2024.
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