Boundaries, possibilities and tasks of commentary (Jiří Kratochvil, Ludvík Vaculík)

Abstract

The article focuses generally on the functioning of commentary or metacommentary within postmodern narrative texts. Two Czech authors from the second half of the 20th century have been chosen to illustrate the theory outlined in the introductory part of the article: Ludvík Vaculík and Jiří Kratochvil. From the point of view of interpretation the structure that is being opened by commentary inside some narratives is called posthermeneutic. The article argues that posthermeneutic situation can be found in the perverse situation of samizdat publishing in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s (as depicted by Vaculík’s Český snář) and in the role played by women in Kratochvil’s short story Příběh krále Kandaula. The article concludes that the postmodern might stand the reader in front of an ethical choice as far as the function of literature and art is concerned.