KARELČAPEK’STRAVELS:ADVENTURESOFA NEWVISION by MirnaŠolić Athesissubmittedinconformitywiththerequirements forthedegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy DepartmentofSlavicLanguagesandLiteratures UniversityofToronto ©Copyright byMirnaŠolić (2008) 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 interconnectedness betweendifferentgenresandarts. Čapek used three approaches to express his experiences of traveling. First, he founded his own aesthetics of the so called “marginal forms” or “low-brow 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 – for believinginmeandsupportingmywork. v TABLEOFCONTENTS Foreword 1 Introduction 20 Travelinliteratureandtheory 20 TheThemeofTravelas Expansionof Literary Horizons 24 TransducedTravels 33 Apollinaire andČapek’sUnderstandingof Modernity 38 Transductionsof “Zone” asaPoetic Creationof Modernity 44 Travelin “Zone” 51 Chapter1: EstablishingConventions:CzechTravels toItaly 57 1.1.Introduction 57 1.2. ExpansionandCultural Identity 57 1.3.CzechTravels toItaly 59 1.4.AChangeof PerspectiveasaShiftaway fromTradition 63 1.5.KarelČapekandSimple FormsinLiterature 66 1.6.Čapek’s Returntothe EuropeanTraditionof Travel:Goethe’sTravels 74 1.7.The LossofTraditional References 79 1.8.ChangesinTemporality 86 1.9.TheTreatmentofSimple Forms 89 1.10.TheStructureof Addresses 96 1.11.Finding Home 99 Summary 102 vi Chapter2: In SearchofCompanionship 103 2.1.Introduction 103 2.2.Activizationof the Narrator 104 2.3.Theoreticalconsiderationsof skaz 107 2.4.Čapekand skaz 110 2.5. LettersfromItaly 118 2.5.1.TheOralandthe Written 120 2.5.2. Childlike Perspective 123 2.5.3.Readers,listeners,andcreationofnarrativedistances 124 2.5.4.Other FormsoftheSecondPersonAddress 131 2.6. LettersfromEngland 135 2.6.1. Skaz andIllustration 135 2.6.2.Functionsofthe Passive ModeandPassivizationof the Narrator 138 2.6.3.The Failureof Domestication 140 2.7. ATriptoSpain 143 2.7.1.Mockingthe PoeticsofTraveling 145 2.7.2.The Poeticsof Dreams 149 2.7.3.TheUseof Perspectives 150 2.7.4.The PoeticsofGames 154 2.8. Images fromHolland 158 2.8.1.TheThemeof Return 160 2.8.2.Mirroring 161 vii 2.9. Travels inthe North 165 2.9.1.PresenceoftheOther 165 2.9.2.Traveling philosophy 167 2.9.3. Mirroringasthe Creationof theSupernaturalWorld 169 Summary 173 Chapter3: Travelsbetween NatureandArt 175 3.1.Introduction 175 3.2.Intermedialityandthe Prague LinguisticCircle 176 3.3.IntermedialElementsinKarelČapek’sTravelogues: Ekphrasis , 183 IconotextandVisuality 3.4.The ExoticUndercurrentof Everyday Life 187 3.5. Letters FromItaly 189 3.5.1.A JourneyintotheTraditionofVisualRepresentations 189 3.5.2.BehindaMaskof aFranciscan 192 3.5.3.Semantic FunctionsofColors 195 3.6. Letters From England 198 3.6.1.Iconotext:The Functionof IllustrationsandCaricatures 198 3.6.2.InSearchof“Anglicity” 203 3.6.3.The Discoveryof Colors 207 3.7 .ATriptoSpain 210 3.7.1.IllustrationsandFilm 210 3.7.2.AWalkthroughtheGalleryof Everyday Life 213 3.8. Images fromHolland 219 viii 3.8.1.TheSemantic Doubling 219 3.8.2.InSearchof“Typicalities” 222 3.8.3.“Sedentary Art” 225 3.9. Travels tothe North 231 3.9.1.Fantasyandthe Abundanceof Forms 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. Warwiththe Newts 255 4.3.Wanderingwithout aHome: FromtheLifeofInsects 262 4.4.The RoadtoSelf-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. TheWine Harvest (17861787). 216 Fig.11.GoyayLucientes,Francescode. The3 rd of May1808inMadrid: The ExecutionsonPrincipe PioHill (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. Frans Post (1655). 227 Fig.16.VanDelft,Vermeer. The LittleStreet (1658). 227 Fig.17.VanDelft,Vermeer. The Kitchenmaid (1658). 228 Fig.18.VanDelft,Vermeer. WomaninBlue, Readingthe Letter (16621663). 228 Fig.19.Rembrandt,HarmeszoonvanRijn. The SlaughteredOx (1655). 230 Fig.20.Rembrandt,HarmeszoonvanRijn. The Anatomy Lectureof Dr.Nicolaes x Turp (1632). 230 Fig.21.Čapek,Karel.Theuseofcolours. 232 Fig.22.Čapek,Karel.Depictionofstablesanddwellings. 234 Fig.23.Čapek,Karel.Depictionofmirroring. 236 Fig.24.Čapek,Karel.RoyalHills. 238 Fig.25.Čapek,Karel.Depictionofforests. 240 Fig.26.Čapek,Karel.Depictionofmountains. 240 Fig.27.Čapek,Karel.Thenatureoflight. 242 Foreword A man should not wander around the world; he returnsandthenheisapprehensiveanddisgusted. 1 Karel Čapek(18901938) earnedhis international reputationfor his plays Rossum’s Universal Robots (Rossumovi univerzální roboti , 1920) and The Insect Play (Ze života hmyzu, 1921), becoming along with Jaroslav Hašek, one of the first worldrenowned Czechauthors.He wrote poetryinhis youth; whichhe usedas literarysketches before he focused on prose and drama. Čapek was also a prominent Czech intellectual and journalist, whose feuilletons elevated journalism to an artistic level. Together with his brother Josef (18871945) –a visual artist,graphic designer,andcoauthor of some early works -Čapekshowedaninterest inthevisualarts,photography,andfilm. Throughout Karel Čapek’s diverse output,the theme of travel is a constant source of inspiration for his versatile intellectual interests. He tackled the theme not only as a writer,but alsoas a literarycritic andjournalist, thus usinghis journalistic experience in his literaryworks andliterarydevices inhis journalism.Inthe narrow sense of wordof the word“travel,” Čapek’s travelogues focus onthe concept.Theyinclude Letters from Italy (Italské listy, 1923), Letters from England (Anglické listy, 1924), A Trip to Spain (Výlet doŠpaněl ,1930), Images from Holland (Obrázky z Holandska , 1932), Travels in the North ( Cestanasever ,1936), 2 andthe posthumouslypublished Images from Home 1 “Člověk se nemá toulat po světě; vrátí se pak a je stísněn a otráven” (Čapek, Cesty 58). 2 I am using here English version of the title Travels to the North as translated by M. and R. Weatherall