Realismus v české literatuře 19. století. Pohledy současníků,
Realism in 19th century Czech literature. Views of contemporaries, historical interpretations and research perspectives

Summary/Abstract: This study aims to formulate a plan of research into reflections of realism in the history of Czech literature. Firstly the author briefly recapitulates the possibilities of conceptualizing literary realism in literary studies, focusing attention on perceptions of realism in Czech literature in the latter half of the 19th century in the context of René Wellek's ideas. It recalls the various literary history conceptions of realism, always bearing in mind the specific segment of period critical assessment of realism to which these models applied. The author finds the greatest discrepancy between critical and historical assessment of realism to be in Czech post-1848 literature, which with some exceptions, such as the work of Jan Neruda, is normally excluded from usage of the term “realism”. On this basis the author then considers the need for discourse analysis to clarify the broad field of period assessment of realism in Czech literature after 1848 and to facilitate a more differentiated description of realism as a literary event than that previously offered by literary textbooks. The author bases the planned analysis on rejection of the concept of realism as a progressively developing literary method, particularly by taking into account the German-language context of Czech literary life, which has been neglected in works on realism to the detriment of the search for associations with French, Russian and English literature.

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