Ulise între Viena și Praga

Rezumat / Abstract

Josef Frajvald, the main character of the novel My Uncle, Odysseus, written by Jiří Marek, has traits of the protagonist of the Odyssey and of Jaroslav Hašek’s antihero the brave soldier Švejk. Josef is associated with the significant places and beings from the legend and has the distinctive traits of his Greek model: cunning, effervescence of thought, enterprising spirit. In the writing of the Czech author, gods and fate are manifest, the name of Homer is mentioned several times, in passing or with details of narrative and the compositional techniques. The frequent references to Antiquity and to the epic chants have the ambivalent role to elevate and discredit the modern figures while highlighting their inadequacy. In the novel which has in its center a picaresque character who reembodies the wanderer Odysseus, the allusions to the classic masterpiece often have comic charm.