Rozrůzněná avantgarda. Poznámky ke vztahu expresionismu a avantgardy v českém kontextu
The diversified avant-garde. Notes on the relationship between expressionism and the avant-garde in the Czech context

Summary/Abstract: This study summarizes various forms of conceptualization of the early postwar avant-garde. It examines how understanding of the terms “expressionist” and “avant-garde” has changed along with considerations over Literární skupina and Devětsil. The study followed changes in the relationship between expressionism and the avant-garde over three stages: the period in which Literární skupina and Devětsil emerged, followed by literary historical reflections on this process during the 1960s and 1970s, and then briefly in contemporary research into the early postwar avant -garde. These reflections are dominated by the view that these two groupings were mutually antagonistic and Literární skupina is seen as distinct from the avant-garde due to its expressionism. Conclusions from theoretical discourse on writings about the avant-garde have been applied in relation to the prose works of both Literární skupina and Devětsil members from approximately 1919 to 1923. In a comparison of texts, important similarities have been found in the imagery, the motif -theme index and the way the texts were created, revealing the need to critically evaluate the way the terms “expressionist” and “avant-garde” are handled as binary opposites. The study suggests that these terms be abandoned when artistic works are being interpreted, and that the term avant-garde be expanded to include Literární skupina, thus supporting the idea of the avant-garde as a heterogeneous, diversified field, in which expressionism emerges as just one of the options.

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