Mystické motivy v díle Josefa K. Šlejhara
Mystical themes in the work of Josef K. Šlejhar

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the present study is to provide an interpretation of the mystical themes in the work of Josef Karel Šlejhar. In contrast to the general conviction that Šlejhar's work absolutizes evil, I present the hypothesis that evil has no ontological value (existence in itself) and that it is only the deprivation of goodness. This interpretation allows for an explanation of the specifics behind Šlejhar's fictional universe based on numerous implicit suppositions regarding the relationship between the soul, body and divine transcendence. This all goes to show that it is considerably reductive to consider Šlejhar an “instinctive mystic”. His specific conception of evil thus strikes me as being the key to an interpretation of the mystical themes that is based on Plotinus's philosophy (particularly his conception of the body and soul), as well as the writings of the neo-Platonist Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in view of his idea of “mystical theology”. This interpretation enables us to examine Šlejhar's fictional world as a coherent and precisely constructed whole.

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