The novel of Josef Toman «Socrates» as an epic of the spiritual and social life of the ancient Greek Athenian state
Keywords:
Сzech historical novel of the twentieth century, Josef Toman, the epic of spiritual and social life, image of Socrates, actualization of the image, techniques of fantastic assumption and play, intermezzo, portrait characteristics, psychology, use of correspondence characters and songs, the key role of monologues and dialogues, frequent change of the narrative rhythmAbstract
The article analyzes the Czech historical novel of Josef Thoman «Socrates», which became an important phenomenon of literary life, as it united the signs and role of historical and social genres. In our opinion, the novel expands the thematic field and artistic principles of the historical novel of the 1970s in Czechoslovakia. Before the reader the image of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is revealed on the background of the spiritual and social life of the Athenian state during the heyday and gradual decline. The article concludes that the Czech author resorts to modernization, modernizing the image, but in general we face a psychologically elaborated and comprehensive portrait of the main character, as well as a gallery of historical characters. The conceptual core of the image of Socrates is his materialism, love of life, sun worship and a positive attitude to the phenomenon of laughter. The artistic structure of the work uses techniques of fantastic assumption, literary play. This is manifested in intermezzo – insert chapters, where the author meets with his hero and talks with him on various topics. In the work, this is analyzed in detail. Important in the novel are the female images. We consider such artistic techniques in the novel as character correspondence, street songs. Monologues and dialogues play an important role.
References
- Dokoupil B. [Time of man, time of history. Remarks on the development of Czech historical prose 1966 –1986]. Praha : Československý spisovatel, 1988 (in Czech).
- Shevchuk V. I. [New Czech novel]. Kyiv : Naukova dumka, 1983 (in Ukrainian).
- [Dictionary of Czech Literature 1970 –1981]. Praha : Československý spisovatel, 1985 (in Czech).
- Malevich O. [Foreword]. In: Toman J., Tomanova M. [Sokrates]. Moscow : Raduga, 1983 (in Russ.).
- Toman J. [Change!]. Literarní mesichnik. 1974. No. 3. P. 26 (in Czech).
- Toman J., Tomanova M. [Sokrates]. Moscow : Raduga, 1983 (in Russ.).
- Toman J. Sokrates. Praha : Žatva, 1975 (in Czech).
- Vlashin Sh. [At school life]. Praha : Československý spisovatel, 1980 (in Czech).
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