Vilém Mrštík a mladá próza v roce 1893
Vilém Mrštík and Works by Young Writers in 1893

Summary/Abstract: The novel Santa Lucia (1893) is the apex of Vilém Mrštík’s writing. This article puts it into the context of discussions on the directions that the works of young writers of that time were taking and the important works of fiction of Mrštík’s contemporaries, F. X. Svoboda’s Probuzení (Awakening, 1893), Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod’s Nejzápadnější Slovan (The westernmost Slav, 1893), and Růžena Svobodová’s Ztroskotáno (Wrecked, 1896). A significant role in this process was played by the critic F. X. Šalda (1867–1937) in defence of his own short story ‘Analýsa’ (Analysis, 1891), by the article ‘Syntetism v novém umění’ (Synthetism in new art, 1891–92), and by his literary criticism. Young authors, enlightened by the development of West European literature but also by Russian Realism, found inspiration particularly in novels on the teaching of emotion sentimental education, whose subjects they connected with testimonies about the lives of contemporarary members of the young generation. A significant feature of their prose works was lyricism, the connection between the emotional life of the characters and the mood of the landscape or city, and the description of the malaise of impaired consciousness. In this context, Mrštík’s novel represents the summit of their endeavours.

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