Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2022
Abstract
This study focuses on the postfaces that accompany Karel Čapek's Writings (published 1980-1995), with an eye to the way they relate to the primary texts. The first part explores the nature of these essays, as well as the topics they address, in relation to Gérard Genette's theory of paratexts.
The author then goes on to examine certain presuppositions in the essays about the experience of reading Čapek's writings, and how or whether authors of the essays are aware of their role in mediating this experience. In a third and final part of the study, the author examines the demands placed on literature during the period 1948-1989, and how they are reflected in the postfaces.