Subversive Adaptations Czech Literature on Screen Behind the Iron Curtain
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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN ADAPTATION AND VISUAL CULTURE Subversive Adaptations Czech Literature on Screen behind the Iron Curtain Petr Bubenícek Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture Series Editors Julie Grossman Le Moyne College Syracuse, NY, USA R. Barton Palmer Clemson University Clemson, SC, USA [email protected] This new series addresses how adaptation function as a principal mode of text production in visual culture. What makes the series distinctive is not only its focus on the various forms of visual culture as both targets and also sources of adaptations, but also its commitment to include forms beyond flm and television, such as videogames, mobile applications, the plastic arts, interactive fction and flm, print and non-print media, and the various manifestations of the avant-garde. As such, the series will contribute to an expansive understanding of adaptation as a central, but only one, form of a larger phenomenon within visual culture. Adaptations are texts that are not singular but complexly multiple, connecting them to other pervasive plural forms: sequels, series, genres, trilogies, authorial oeuvres, appropriations, remakes, reboots, cycles and franchises. This series especially welcomes studies that, in some form, treat the connection between adaptation and these other forms of multiplicity. We also welcome proposals that focus on aspects of theory that are relevant to the importance of adaptation as connected to various forms of visual culture. Advisory Board Sarah Cardwell, University of Kent, UK Deborah Cartmell, De Montfort University, UK Timothy Corrigan, University of Pennsylvania, US Lars Ellestrom, Linnaeus University, Sweden Kamilla Elliott, Lancaster University, UK Christine Geraghty, University of Glasgow, UK Helen Hanson, University of Exeter, UK Linda Hutcheon, University of Toronto, Canada Glenn Jellenik, University of Central Arkansas, US Thomas Leitch, University of Delaware, US Brian McFarlane, Monash University, Australia Simone Murray, Monash University, Australia James Naremore, Indiana University, US Kate Newell, Savannah College of Art and Design, US Laurence Raw, Baskent University, Turkey Robert Stam, New York University, US Constantine Verevis, Monash University, Australia Imelda Whelehan, University of Tasmania, Australia Shannon Wells-Lassagne, Universite de Bretagne Sud, France More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14654 [email protected] Petr Bubeníček Subversive Adaptations Czech Literature on Screen behind the Iron Curtain [email protected] Petr Bubeníček Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture ISBN 978-3-319-40960-3 ISBN 978-3-319-40961-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40961-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017937911 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. Cover Image from Karel Zeman’s The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958). Courtesy of Ludmila Zeman. All rights reserved. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland [email protected] For my grandfather [email protected] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The beginnings of this book can be traced back to the time I spent at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Foundation in Greifswald, Germany in 2013, where I was provided with excellent conditions for conducting research. I then continued working on the book at the Department of Czech Literature of Masaryk University. I would like to extend my warmest thanks to my close colleagues at Masaryk University, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, and the Czech Academy of Sciences: Stanislava Fedrová, Zuzana Fonioková, Miroslav Kotásek, Jiří Koten, Jan Tlustý, and Petr Vokřínek, who listened to me patiently, provided me with much advice, and altogether helped out on this project. This book would not have been possible without the sup- port of Zbyněk Fišer, who allowed me the time I needed to work on it. Special praise is owed to my wonderful students Vladimíra Derková, Jakub Jedounek, Gabriela Sládková, and Jana Vrzalíková, whose help in completing this book was simply invaluable. I am also indebted to Nicholas Orsillo for his revision of the English text and for his perceptive remarks that led me to rethinking and rewriting in many places. I am particularly beholden to several excellent scholars: adaptation theorist Kamilla Elliott, literary theorist Petr Steiner, aesthetician and philosopher Jaroslav Střítecký, and literary historian Dalibor Tureček, all of whom gave me feedback on the early drafts of this book. I would also like to thank literary theorist Alice Jedličková for taking the time to speak with me on multiple occasions about intermediality studies and for vii [email protected] viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS attentively reading my manuscript. Film historians Jaromír Blažejovský, Ivan Klimeš, Lukáš Skupa, Pavel Skopal, and Petr Szczepanik also helped me out greatly along the way. Many thanks belong to Pavel Švanda for discussing Czech flm with me and for reminding me of the pivotal role Pavel Juráček played in the 1960s. I would also like to acknowledge the help of my colleagues who read various parts of the book and posed some great questions: Michal Fránek, Libuše Heczková, Pavel Janáček, Kyle Mike, Jana Nechutová, Petr Šámal, Jiří Trávníček, and Jan Wiendel. Jiří Hanuš’s and Jiří Knapík’s advice concerning the historical context of my book was invaluable. The employees of Barrandov Studio made it possible for me to access archival materials, and for that I am grateful. Similarly, it was a pleasure to work with Denisa Lešková at the Karel Zeman Museum. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Broňka for her understanding and support, and my daughter Terezka for her smiles. [email protected] CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Adaptation as Subterfuge: Silvery Wind 43 3 Adaptation as Play: The Worlds of Jules Verne Come Alive 85 4 Adaptation as Challenge: Marketa Lazarová and Romance for Flugelhorn 129 5 Adaptation as a Refection of the Zeitgeist 169 6 Epilogue 197 Works Cited 205 Index 217 ix [email protected] LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 2.1 Stříbrný vítr (Silvery Wind; Václav Krška 1954). Courtesy of Ludmila Zeman. All rights reserved 66 Fig. 2.2 Stříbrný vítr (Silvery Wind; Václav Krška 1954). Courtesy of Ludmila Zeman. All rights reserved 72 Fig. 3.1 Vynález zkázy (The Fabulous World of Jules Verne; Karel Zeman 1958). Courtesy of Ludmila Zeman. All rights reserved 90 Fig. 3.2 Vynález zkázy (The Fabulous World of Jules Verne; Karel Zeman 1958). Courtesy of Ludmila Zeman. All rights reserved 105 Fig. 3.3 Ukradená vzducholoď (The Stolen Airship; Karel Zeman 1966). Courtesy of Ludmila Zeman. All rights reserved 110 Fig. 3.4 Ukradená vzducholoď (The Stolen Airship; Karel Zeman 1966). Courtesy of Ludmila Zeman. All rights reserved 117 Fig. 4.1 Marketa Lazarová (Marketa Lazarová; František Vláčil 1967) 139 Fig. 4.2 Romance pro křídlovku (Romance for Flugelhorn; Otakar Vávra 1966) 154 Fig. 5.1 Žert (The Joke; Jaromil Jireš 1968) 186 Fig. 5.2 Žert (The Joke; Jaromil Jireš 1968) 192 xi [email protected] CHAPTER 1 Introduction The subject of this book concerns flm adaptations of literary works undertaken in Communist Czechoslovakia over the 16-year period from 1954 to 1969. This particular chunk of history was selected not only because of its signal value for Czechoslovak cinema in general, but also because it has, until now, remained shrouded in many myths and much misinformation, which the present study hopes to dispel. But the chief goal of my inquiry is to challenge the view that all flms produced by the state-controlled movie industry behind the Iron Curtain were artistically uninspired fops whose sole raison d’être was to expound offcial ideology by other means. The actual situation was much more complex. Although Party apparatchiks did their best to mold all flm adaptations produced in Communist Czechoslovakia according to the tried-and-true spirit of Marxism-Leninism, despite their valiant efforts, not every movie coming out of this ideological pressure cooker turned into a mere passive mouthpiece of doctrine emanating from high above. Despite the daunting conditions of their origins, the best cin- ematic works managed to shed, in one way or another, this oppressive yoke, becoming instrumental agents in a gradual liberalization of the Communist regime culminating with the Prague Spring of 1968. Focusing on internationally celebrated flms like Vynález zkázy (The Fabulous World of Jules Verne 1958) and Marketa Lazarová (Marketa Lazarová 1967), I will illustrate with concrete examples how the local flmmakers managed to defy, regardless of the infelicitous political and economic context of the 1950s and, to a lesser degree, of the 1960s, the © The Author(s) 2017 1 P.