Jen tak se potulovat střední Evropou: ke Kunderově a Bělohradského pojetí střední Evropy

Abstract

The article compares the respective concepts of Central Europe held by Milan Kundera and Václav Bělohradský. It notes their similarities: both authors understand Central Europe as a phenomenon of the 19th and 20th centuries with a possible overlap into the present (overlap as a never-ending epilogue of Central Europe), and neither defines fixed geographical boundaries for the region, in both cases it is instead a “horizon that allows for a meaningful understanding.” In Kundera’s case, I emphasize the continuity of the theme in his writing from 1978 (with a prologue from 1967–1969) to 2007, while in Bělohradský’s case I emphasize the more complex relationship between the first significant thematization in 1981 and the 21st-century updating of the notion of Central Europe in his texts. As the focal point where the perspectives of both authors intersect and clash, I identify the notion of the non-self-evident nation. This notion allows Kundera to apply the strongly Goethean inspiration of the relationship between world literature and the literature of a small nation (and the function of national cultures as portals to world culture), but this strength is accompanied by a rather strong utopian excess in the realm of the political. An excess that leads to a skeptical rejection of politics, and this is where Bělohradsky’s critique comes in. The paper cites Bělohradský’s notion of natural language and hermeneutic community as a motif that allows the rupture between the two perspectives to be bridged.

Keywords

• central europe
• nation-state
• non-self-evident nation
• milan kundera
• václav bělohradský