Šumava umírající a romantická aneb amorfní ekopoetika Josefa Váchala
Šumava umírající a romantická (The Romance of the Dying Bohemian Forest): The Amorphous Ecopoetics of Josef Váchal

Summary/Abstract: This essay analyses the literary and visual art works of the Czech painter, graphic artist, illustrator, sculptor and writer Josef Váchal (1884‒1969), particularly his Šumava umírající a romantická (The romance of the dying Bohemian Forest, 1928‒31), from the perspective of ecopoetics. Its starting point is the approach taken in the work of the literary theorist Lawrence Buell (b.1939). The essay reveals ecological dimensions of Váchal’s works, in particular the close link between the woodcut, a technique he used for this and other works, and the organic processes that formed the character of this old-growth forest. The essay also places Váchal’s approach into the wider contexts and efforts of the Avantgarde in Czechoslovakia and elsewhere between the two world wars.

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