Africa and the West
Volume 11, Numéro 13, Pages 96-107
2017-01-01

The Oriental Illusion: Karel čapek’s Tales

Authors : Volná Ludmila .

Abstract

This paper intends to study the ways in which Karel Čapek treats the representations of the Oriental in two of his tales, “Jasnovidec,” (1928/1929, “The Clairvoyant”) and “Velká kočičí pohádka” (1932, “A Long Cat Tale”). The author is a Czech writer, journalist and photographer of the first half of the 20th century (1890-1938) who, in Eva Strohsová words “in considerable and multiple ways contributed to the creation of the cultural space of the first Czechoslovak republic and whose work gained a wide acclaim not only at home but also on the international scale.” (586. Translation mine.)

Keywords

Karel Čapek ; Czech writer ; Czechoslovak republic