CORE137 Insights into Czech Literature from Its Beginning to the Present

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2026
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Bohumil Fořt, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Marie Hanzelková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Marcela Křápková Hrdličková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Eliška Smutná (assistant)
doc. Mgr. Zuzana Urválková, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Zuzana Urválková, Ph.D.
Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
TYP_STUDIA(BM) && FORMA(P) && MAXATR(3, core)
The course is intended for students in full-time Bachelor's and five-year Master's programmes.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/40
Course objectives
The course aims to introduce students to the canon of Czech literature through specific examples from Czech literature from the beginning to the present in an attractive combination of lectures, workshops, and excursions. The works selected will be outstanding and canon-defining works for which standard English translations exist and provide students with an essential insight into the literary culture of the Czech lands.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- navigate the basic canon of Czech literature;
- recognize the key canonical works of different periods in Czech literature;
- understand the fundamental developmental trends in Czech literature;
- comprehend the main developmental trends in Czech literature in connection with the development of Czech literature and its dominant features.
Syllabus
  • 1. Between allegory and autobiography: Jan Amos Komenský, Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart. Workshop.
  • 2. Sing about love, death and news. Czech broadside ballads 1600-1900. Workshop and printing lab.
  • 3. Romanticism: Imagery and Morbidity (Karel Hynek Mácha - Máj, Karel Jaromír Erben - Kytice from National Legends). Lecture.
  • 4. Modernism between Romanticism, Biedermeier, and Realism (Božena Němcová: Grandmother, Jan Neruda: Tales of the Little Quarter). Lecture.
  • 5. Franz Kafka and Expressionism. Lecture.
  • 6. Reflections on World War I and the Humorous Novel by Jaroslav Hašek The Good Soldier Švejk. Lecture.
  • 7. War and the Holocaust (Anošt Lustig: Prayer for Kateřina Horowitzová, Alena Mornštajnová: Hana).
  • 8. Modernism and the Experience of the World (Milan Kundera: The Joke, Josef Škvorecký: The Cowards). Lecture.
  • 9. World War II and the Expulsion of the Sudeten Germans (Kateřina Tučková: The Expulsion of Gerta Schnirch). Lecture.
  • 10. Postmodernism - Late Works of Milan Kundera. Lecture.
  • 11. Workshop at the Milan Kundera Library.
  • 12. Final Project Hour.
Literature
  • HOLÝ, Jiří. Writers under siege : Czech literature since 1945. 1st pub. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2008, ix, 363. ISBN 9781845191900. info
  • The phoney peace : power and culture in Central Europe, 1945-49. Edited by Robert B. Pynsent. London: School of Slavonic and East European Studies, 2000, xiv, 536. ISBN 0903425017. info
  • The literature of nationalism : essays on East European identity. Edited by Robert B. Pynsent. 1st pub. Houndmills: Macmillan, 1996, viii, 282. ISBN 0333666828. info
  • The Everyman companion to East European literature. Edited by Robert B. Pynsent - Sonja Ivanova Kanikova. London: J.M. Dent, 1993, xiv, 605. ISBN 046087201X. info
  • PYNSENT, Robert B. Czech prose and verse : a selection with an introductory essay. London: University of London, the Athlone Press, 1979, lxxxiii, 1. ISBN 0485175193. info
  • Hundred towers : a Czechoslovak anthology of creative writing. Edited by Franz Carl Weiskopf. New York: L.B. Fischer, 1945, 277 s. info
Teaching methods
Participatory teaching methods, simulation-based teaching, inquiry-based teaching.
Assessment methods
Students will develop a group project (1 to 5 people in a group) on selected topics of the course and present it in the last class of the course. The group project will be submitted to the submission room in IS. This will also include completing a form indicating the specific contribution of each member of the project group.
Náhradní absolvování
Not available.
Language of instruction
English
Teacher's information
In the interactive curriculum in IS you will find the essential information for each lesson.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2026, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2026/CORE137