To See Oneself Through the Eyes of Others and Through the Eyes of Books: Perspective in Bohumil Hrabal's Autobiographical Texts
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Prace filologiczne. Literaturoznawstwo |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | Bohumil Hrabal; autobiography; autofiction; perspective; identity |
| Description | This study analyses the use of perspective in the autobiographical trilogy (In-House Weddings, Vita Nuova and Gaps) and the late “journalistic” texts by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal. The article examines Hrabal’s play with perspective on several levels: on the narrative level, Hrabal experiments with the narrative voice and focalization, and views himself through the eyes of his wife Eliška, who is also the narrator of the whole trilogy; this strategy allows him to gain distance from the “I-perspective” and to touch upon sensitive moments of his life (particularly auto-censorship, his relationship with the Communist authorities, and various fears). Furthermore, Eliška’s view clashes with the view of Hrabal as a character in the narrative world, which results in an original autobiographical polyphony; the article presents a detailed scrutiny of these perspectives with regard to time. Drawing from hermeneutics as a way of self-understanding shaped by texts and culture, the analysis of perspectivity will demonstrate that Hrabal also views himself through the eyes of books and cultural images; additionally, the article points to parallels with Hrabal’s other works, particularly Too Loud a Solitude. Finally, Hrabal’s playful use of perspective concerns the question of identity: the textual self that appears in the stream of images manifests itself in constant motion, thus unveiling the non-substantiality and openness of human identity. In this way, Hrabal’s writing about himself approximates the view of self in Eastern philosophies (esp. Buddhism and Taoism––Hrabal’s sources of inspiration) as well as contemporary cognitive approaches to the theory of autobiography (Paul John Eakin). |