Karel Čapek's Travels
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KARELČAPEK’STRAVELS:ADVENTURESOFA NEWVISION by MirnaŠolić Athesissubmittedinconformitywiththerequirements forthedegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy DepartmentofSlavicLanguagesandLiteratures UniversityofToronto ©CopyrightbyMirnaŠolić (2008) Library and Archives Bibliothèque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l’édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-58091-2 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-58091-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L’auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l’Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author’s permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n’y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ii ABSTRACT Karel Čapek's Travels: Adventures of a New Vision, Mirna Šolić, 2008, Ph.D., DepartmentofSlavic LanguagesandLiteratures,UniversityofToronto This dissertation examines the theme of travel in the work of Karel Čapek (1890- 1938),both inhis travelogues andfiction. Insteadof assumingtravel as a conventional departure to another destination,journeyandreturnhome,Čapekexperimentedwiththe topic, popular in interwar literatures and arts, as an example of the avant-garde interconnectednessbetweendifferentgenresandarts. Čapek used three approaches to express his experiences of traveling. First, he founded his own aesthetics of the so called “marginal forms” or “lowbrow genres” whichhe simultaneouslyinterpolatedinhis prose.Their use,whichgreatlychanges the perspective on travel writing, is visible in comparison between Čapek’s and previous travelogues (chapter 1). Secondly, he introduced skaz as stylized spoken language to Czechliterature,andchangedthe traditional roles of the narrator andhis addressees in travelogues (chapter 2). Thirdly,he usedvisual elements of language,combinedverbal andvisual arts (illustrations anddrawings) in the narrative (chapter 3). Finally, all these elements he interpolated to his prose (chapter 4) through the intertextual links with travelogues. On the example of the theme of travel in Karel Čapek’s work, my dissertation revisits some current definitions of the historical avant-garde. It shows that the recent theories,predominantlydevelopedonthe examples from WesternEuropeanandRussian iii arts,cannot be fullyappliedtolocal artistic movements.First,it shows that the notionof the avant-garde cannot be just confined to the writers who called themselves “avant- garde” (such as Karel Teige or VladislavVančura).Instead,it shouldbe alsoexpandedto other writers,suchas Karel Čapek,marginal tothe avant-garde mainstream.Second, the analysis of the theme of travel inKarel Čapek’s opus shows that the Czechavant-garde was not destructive towards its literaryheritage. Instead, it offeredanalternative reading of tradition through artistic experiments. In extension, it also provided a new understandingoftheculturalandliteraryidentity. iv Acknowledgements I wouldlike tothank Professor Veronika Ambros for being a wonderful supervisor anda continuous support throughout the years of mystudies inToronto.This dissertationwas not entirely myidea.Instead,it has emergedas a result of our constant conversations and exchange of thoughts. I also want to thank Professor Ralph Bogert for his intellectual insights, and Professor Taras Koznarsky for a careful reading of the drafts and his suggestions; the Department of Slavic Languages andLiteratures,the MunkCentre,the Institute of the Czech Literature at the Czech Academy of Sciences, The Museum of National Literature in Prague, and Professor Eva Rusínová in Brno for supporting and enablingmy researchin the CzechRepublic; Doctor Jennifer-Marie Olsonfor editorial help; my family in Croatia for moral and financial support, their patience, and encouragement; and finally my extended family of friends in Canada – Constantin, Danijela and Stefan,Denise,Eszter andArt,Lidija,Zrinka andGoran,andmanyothers – forbelievinginmeandsupportingmywork. v TABLEOFCONTENTS Foreword 1 Introduction 20 Travelinliteratureandtheory 20 TheThemeofTravelasExpansionofLiteraryHorizons 24 TransducedTravels 33 Apollinaire andČapek’sUnderstandingofModernity 38 Transductionsof“Zone” asaPoetic Creationof Modernity 44 Travelin“Zone” 51 Chapter1: EstablishingConventions:CzechTravelstoItaly 57 1.1.Introduction 57 1.2. ExpansionandCulturalIdentity 57 1.3.CzechTravelstoItaly 59 1.4.AChangeofPerspectiveasaShiftaway fromTradition 63 1.5.KarelČapekandSimpleFormsinLiterature 66 1.6.Čapek’sReturntotheEuropeanTraditionof Travel:Goethe’sTravels 74 1.7.TheLossofTraditionalReferences 79 1.8.ChangesinTemporality 86 1.9.TheTreatmentofSimpleForms 89 1.10.TheStructureofAddresses 96 1.11.FindingHome 99 Summary 102 vi Chapter2:InSearchofCompanionship 103 2.1.Introduction 103 2.2.Activizationof theNarrator 104 2.3.Theoreticalconsiderationsof skaz 107 2.4.Čapekandskaz 110 2.5.LettersfromItaly 118 2.5.1.TheOralandthe Written 120 2.5.2. ChildlikePerspective 123 2.5.3.Readers,listeners,andcreationofnarrativedistances 124 2.5.4.OtherFormsoftheSecondPersonAddress 131 2.6.LettersfromEngland 135 2.6.1.Skaz andIllustration 135 2.6.2.FunctionsofthePassive ModeandPassivizationof theNarrator 138 2.6.3.TheFailureofDomestication 140 2.7.ATriptoSpain 143 2.7.1.MockingthePoeticsofTraveling 145 2.7.2.ThePoeticsofDreams 149 2.7.3.TheUseofPerspectives 150 2.7.4.ThePoeticsofGames 154 2.8.Images fromHolland 158 2.8.1.TheThemeofReturn 160 2.8.2.Mirroring 161 vii 2.9.Travels intheNorth 165 2.9.1.PresenceoftheOther 165 2.9.2.Travelingphilosophy 167 2.9.3.Mirroringasthe Creationof theSupernaturalWorld 169 Summary 173 Chapter3:TravelsbetweenNatureandArt 175 3.1.Introduction 175 3.2.IntermedialityandthePragueLinguisticCircle 176 3.3.IntermedialElementsinKarelČapek’sTravelogues: Ekphrasis, 183 IconotextandVisuality 3.4.TheExoticUndercurrentofEverydayLife 187 3.5.Letters FromItaly 189 3.5.1.AJourneyintotheTraditionofVisualRepresentations 189 3.5.2.BehindaMaskof aFranciscan 192 3.5.3.SemanticFunctionsofColors 195 3.6.Letters From England 198 3.6.1.Iconotext:TheFunctionofIllustrationsandCaricatures 198 3.6.2.InSearchof“Anglicity” 203 3.6.3.TheDiscoveryof Colors 207 3.7.ATriptoSpain 210 3.7.1.IllustrationsandFilm 210 3.7.2.AWalkthroughtheGalleryof EverydayLife 213 3.8.Images fromHolland 219 viii 3.8.1.TheSemanticDoubling 219 3.8.2.InSearchof“Typicalities” 222 3.8.3.“SedentaryArt” 225 3.9.Travels totheNorth 231 3.9.1.FantasyandtheAbundanceofForms 231 3.9.2.TheSupernatural WorldontheWater 235 Summary 242 Chapter4: FictionalTravels 244 4.1.Introduction 244 4.2.Exoticdestinations 246 4.2.1.TheGardenofKrakonoš 246 4.2.2.TheLuminousDepths 249 4.2.3.Meteor 250 4.2.4.WarwiththeNewts 255 4.3.Wanderingwithout aHome: FromtheLifeofInsects 262 4.4.TheRoadtoSelf-Discovery 265 4.4.1.WaysideCrosses 266 4.4.2.Tales fromTwoPockets 269 4.4.3.Hordubal 271 4.4.4.AnOrdinaryLife 281 Conclusion 291 Bibliography 299 ix ListofFigures Fig.1.Čapek,Karel.DepictionofCustomsOfficers. 124 Fig.2.DiBondone,Giotto.HomageofaSimple Man(12951300). 197 Fig.3.Čapek,Karel.“Folkestone.” 202 Fig.4.Čapek,Karel.“Armchair.” 205 Fig.5.Čapek,Karel.“Traffic.” 206 Fig.6.Čapek,Karel.RepresentationofSequences. 211 Fig.7.Čapek,Karel.TheUseofFrames. 212 Fig.8.Čapek,Karel.Depictionofshoecleaners. 213 Fig.9.Čapek,Karel.“Velázquez.” 215 Fig.10.GoyayLucientes,Francescode.TheWineHarvest(17861787). 216 Fig.11.GoyayLucientes,Francescode.The3rd ofMay1808inMadrid: TheExecutionsonPrincipePioHill (1814). 217 Fig.12.Čapek,Karel.Semanticdoubling: IllustrationofGrachts. 221 Fig.13.Čapek,Karel.“OrdinaryDutchpeople.” 222 Fig.14.Čapek,Karel.Transformationofreaders intoviewers:illustrationsof JohnGalsworthy,GeorgeDuhamelandKosztolányDeszö. 223 Fig.15.Hals,Frans.FransPost(1655). 227 Fig.16.VanDelft,Vermeer.TheLittleStreet (1658). 227 Fig.17.VanDelft,Vermeer.TheKitchenmaid(1658). 228 Fig.18.VanDelft,Vermeer.WomaninBlue,ReadingtheLetter (16621663). 228 Fig.19.Rembrandt,HarmeszoonvanRijn.The SlaughteredOx (1655). 230 Fig.20.Rembrandt,HarmeszoonvanRijn.The AnatomyLectureofDr.Nicolaes x Turp(1632). 230 Fig.21.Čapek,Karel.Theuseofcolours. 232 Fig.22.Čapek,Karel.Depictionofstablesanddwellings. 234 Fig.23.Čapek,Karel.Depictionofmirroring.