To See Oneself Through the Eyes of Others and Through the Eyes of Books: Perspective in Bohumil Hrabal’s Autobiographical Texts
Journal Title: Prace Filologiczne. Literaturoznawstwo - Year 2018, Vol 8, Issue 0
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).
Authors and Affiliations
Jan Tlustý
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP657500
- DOI -
- Views 73
- Downloads 0
, Points of View and the Daily Press at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries
The following article concerns the issue of point of view in Polish daily newspapers at the end of the 19th century. The daily is considered here as a coherent and cogent literary work based on fictional as well as non-f...
[Punkt widzenia a prasa codzienna na przełomie XIX I XX wieku]
The following article concerns the issue of point of view in Polish daily newspapers at the end of the 19th century. The daily is considered here as a coherent and cogent literary work based on fictional as well as non-f...
[Między świadectwem a ironią: punkty widzenia w „Czarnobylskiej modlitwie. Kronice przyszłości” Swietłany Aleksijewicz]
The article is an analysis of Swietlana Alexievich’s book Chernobyl Prayer. A Chronicle of the Future and aims to examine its predominant narrative strategies. The author points to the role of monologues, mottos, irony,...
Point of View and the Modalities of Narrative
In this paper I will envisage the relationship between narrative modalities and point of view with the help of the narratological theory of Christo Todorov, who is a representative of the Bulgarian Guillaumist school. Fi...
[Punkt widzenia (w czterech odsłonach)]
The article aims to analyse four important point of view novels, namely Henry James’ The Ambassadors, Zasypie wszystko, zawieje [Everything Will Be Covered by the Snow] by Włodzimierz Odojewski, The Flanders Road by Clau...