Politics, sex and eroticism – towards the fictional picture of “normalization” in Jaroslav Čejka’s novel Most přes řeku zapomnění

Petr Hrtánek

Katedra české literatury a literární vědy, Filozofická fakulta, Ostravská univerzita
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8007-8745

Abstract

Novels with the intention to create a comprehensive and recapitulative “chronicle” picture of Czech society in contemporary history present one of the productive thematic tendencies in Czech fiction. Their plots are usually based on confrontations between political events and private stories. In dramatic clashes between “big” and “small” histories, sex and eroticism come to play an important role. They are also essential elements in the novel Most přes řeku zapomnění (The Bridge over the River of Oblivion) (2015) by Jaroslav Čejka. The story tracks the life of the protagonist (and that of his brother) over the course of several decades and shows how numerous love affairs and erotic escapades frame his political career. The present analytical essay focuses on the erotic motifs as realisation of the erotic mode in Čejka’s fictional picture of the “normalization” period during the communist era.

Keywords:

contemporary Czech fiction, picture of communism, Jaroslav Čejka, novel, erotic motifs, erotic mode