„Práce, o kterou se pokoušíte,se vám ani v nejmenším nedaří“ Reflexe psaní v povídkách Karla Miloty

• Main Author: Josef Šebek
• Format: Article
• Language: ces
• Published: Univerzita Karlova, Filozofická Fakulta 2021-06-01
• Series: Svět Literatury
• Subjects: karel milota; writing; reader; unnatural narratology; mise en abyme; metalepsis; literary atmospheres; authorial self-presentation
• Online Access: https://svetliteratury.ff.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2021/06/Josef_Sebek_41-58.pdf

The article deals with three short stories from Karel Milota’s collection The Night of Mirrors (Noc zrcadel; 1981, rev. ed. 2005): the eponymous text, “Carol” (“Koleda”) and “Pastoral” (“Pastorála”). These second-person narratives foreground the character of the writer (or, in the case of the “Pastoral”, the composer) and the process of creation — or rather its failure. The argument presented in this article proceeds in three steps. First, it focuses on the unnatural narration and paradoxical narrative techniques, namely mise en abyme and ontological metalepsis. Next, it analyzes the representation of architectural space and “musicalisation” of fiction as basis for building literary atmospheres. Finally, it concentrates on the (self-) presentation of the writer and indistinct quality of literary and theoretical discourse in the stories. These three mutually related aspects persistently engage the reader’s cognitive and emotional faculties, and vividly stage the identity of the author and creative process.