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A Spectacle in Circus - Distraction, Concentration?
Machalíková, Pavla
The text takes as its starting point the thesis of Jonathan Crary about the fragmentation of modern society and modern perception. As an example, it takes circus posters and announcements for the Bich circus society in Prague shortly after 1800. It analyses circus as a specific type of modern spectacle which manipulates the perception of the viewer in ways similar to manipulations in modern art.
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“Tis beautiful in the spa towns, since one finds much pleasure there for one´s health to suit one´s tastes.” The Spa Town Topos in Czech Literature in the 19th Century
Fránek, Michal
Spa towns represented a space where the middle and higher classes could take in the relaxing effects of various healing procedures but they were also important locations for making social contacts, having fun and enjoying leisurely activities not the last of which included lovers´ trysts. Our essay attempts to examine how these aspects of spa town life appeared in Czech journalism of the time (B. Němcová, J. Neruda), in literary fiction (A. V. Šmilovský, I. Klicpera, T. Nováková, F. X. Svoboda etc.) and in the opera (L. Janáček: Fate). The work also monitors how Czech and German competition and efforts to create their own, purely Czech spa town of Luhačovice, figures in literary representations.
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On the Geishas from Vršovice. Hloucha's Dab of the Exotic as a Contribution to Types of Entertainment Offered by the Capital City
Kořínková, Lucie ; Kořínek, Pavel
Příspěvek pojednává o takzvané japonské čajovně, kterou na pražském holešovickém výstavišti u příležitosti Jubilejní výstavy v roce 1908 provozovali bratři Joe a Karel Hlouchovi. Autoři se domnívají, že tento podnik přitahoval své hosty nejen nabídkou občerstvení, ale stejnou měrou, ne-li více, také příslibem exotického zážitku, modelovaného po vzoru podobných atrakcí v západních zemích. Text sleduje, jakým způsobem byla tato exotická atrakce konstruována, a zasazuje ji do kontextu díla a podnikatelských aktivit japonofila a autora sentimentálních románů o Japonsku Joe Hlouchy. Nastiňuje také, jak tato atrakce souvisela s dobovým obrazem Japonska na Západě obecně, se společenskou módou japanismu a s tím, jak se tyto odrážely v zábavě středostavovských společenských vrstev. Na citacích z humoristických a publicistických článků o čajovně studie ukazuje, že návštěvníci si byli umělosti „hry na Japonsko“ částečně vědomi, aniž by to ovšem zcela kazilo jejich radost z „exotického zážitku“.
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A Play for the Informed. Rhyming Riddles in National Revival Magazines
Vítová, Andrea
Rhyming riddles and word plays (anagrams, logogriphs, palindromes and charades) in the cultural and social magazines and newspaper supplements of the national revival period represented a genre aimed at passing time. Their encrypted messages pointed to personalities and acts from an environment where a national society was being formed and was accessible mainly to those readers who identified with nationalist circles. A successful solution to a riddle was a key to this certain community.
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The poet’s window into time. Boredom as a suppressed agent of the artistic maturation of Jaroslav Vrchlický
Hrdina, Martin
The work focuses on the circumstances of the time that poet and translator Jaroslav Vrchlický spent in Italy in the summer of 1875. Based on Vrchlický’s journal entries, correspondence and literary works of the time (especially unpublished poems Spleen and Ideal), the author considers the fundamental role of boredom at a time when Vrchlický was coming of age as a person and a creator. He focuses especially on the period during the formulation of the well-known program of the epic, which was the main artistic output of his stay in Italy. With support from Simmel’s interpretation of the work of Arthur Schopenhauer whose pessimistic view of the world Vrchlický rejected, Vrchlický’s epic gesture appears to be a possible method for overcoming melancholy, which he faced as a modern person.
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„A Tragedy Turned Upside Down”: Amateur Operetta ant Its Place in Folk Entertainment
Čadková, Daniela
Organizing amateur parodical operettas or musical farces was a regular part of social entertainment, special evenings, amateur performances and carnivals and New Year’s Eve parties in the second of half of the 19th century. We use the example of the Edip král (parody of Sophocles Oedipus Rex) to demonstrate the popularity of this genre including its specific traits, scenographic practices and parodical processes.
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