esk literrn naturalismus – Synopticko-pulzan model kulturnho jevu Tureek Dalibor (2026)

Was naturalism a cesspool of filth or a modern experiment, and what form did it take in Czech literature? This Czech-language collective monograph examines the position and character of naturalism in Czech culture at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. It asks whether naturalism was limited to the few writers commonly associated with it, or whether it had a broader reach and more internally diverse nature; whether it merely copied Zolas theories and novels, or related to this ideal prototype in more complex and varied ways; and whether it offered readers only sensational motifs of extreme ugliness and disgust, or also represented a stimulating modern experiment. The book considers what Czech naturalism reveals about the position of Czech literature in a European context, including comparisons with France, Germany, Scandinavia and Slovakia, and explores the methodological challenges it presents to literary history. Answers are provided by a collective of academics from esk Budjovice, Prague, Brno, Olomouc and Liberec.