Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2020
Abstract
This article discusses to what extent can historians use literary fiction as a historical source for their research on technocracy in state socialist Czechoslovakia. This case study focuses on the literary work of Czechoslovak economist and writer Stanislava Vácha.
Since the 1950s to 1990s Vácha wrote numerous novels about socialist managers and economists. This article argues that Vácha's novels are unique historical sources providing valuable insights in the mentality of professional middle class in Czechoslovakia before 1989.
While using Vácha's novels and similar materials as historical sources historians are able to expand our knowledge of social and cultural history of expert cultures in state socialist era.