Der tschechische utopische Roman der Zwischenkriegszeit und "Palę Paryż" von Bruno Jasieński

Abstract

The study compares the Czech utopian novels written in the 20is and 30is of this century with the novel Palę Paryż by the Polish author Bruno Jasienski (first published in the French translation in 1930). There are several types of utopian novels in Czech literature. The first type is represented by the novel Velkovyroba ctnosti (1922) written by Jiri Haussmann and also by proses and dramas by Karel Ćapek. The study primarily focuses on Ćapek's novel Tovarna na Absolutno (1922). The plots of these works are based on revolutionary discoveries that entirely change human life but finally lead to a catastrophe. The second type is represented by the proses of Jan Weiss, mainly the novel Diim o tisici patrech). Developing a fantastic imagination of its own, this work of art is closely related to surrealism. Ii is the picture ofi a monstrous thousand-iloor house controled by a dictator Muller opposed by a detective Peter Brok. Similar to Ćapek's works, this noveł is a warning against the unhuman, mechanical technocracy. The third type of Czech utopian novel, represented by Marie Majerova and her novel Prehrada (1932) is closest to Jasieński. The utopian topic, i.e. a future revolutionary takeover and the shift of the story into the future, are used by both Majerova and Jasieński as an opportunity to criticise the contemporary society and to propagate the communist future. In his novel, Jasienski - similar to the above mentioned Czech authors - applies the methods common to the modern lyricism and documentary poblicistics. His expressive style, imagination, the negative depiction of the large metropolis as a chaos, and his conception of the erotic make him close to Weiss. At the same time, there is a significant difierence between the first part of Palę Paryż with its subjective perspective close to Weiss, and two other parts, in which the novel changes into communist agitation and its expressivity and imagination are oppressed by ideological proclamations.