Heterocosmica II

Heterocosmica II: The Fictitious Worlds of Czech Postmodern Prose is an independent book, although it is intrinsically connected with Heterocosmica: Fiction and Possible Worlds, whose Czech translation was published by Karolinum Press in 2003. It represents the culmination of the effort I have pursued since my return from Canada where I had emigrated – to incorporate the theory of fictitious worlds in the context of contemporary Czech literature and Czech literary science. I have primarily taken an analytical approach, focusing on analyzing representative works of Czech postmodern fiction. If in need of a theoretical and terminological introduction, readers should refer to Heterocosmica, however, there is sufficient information in this book for the reader of this "second” volume to be able to understand the theory of fictitious worlds without any previous knowledge of the "first” volume. Considering the fact that I have always focused on the mutual interdependency of literary theory and analysis (or interpretation), analyses contained in this book result in new theoretical insights. These primarily concern the complicated and intricate issue of postmodern fiction and culminate in an attempt to provide typological characteristics of postmodern narrative texts. The theory of fictitious worlds resonates with the essential aspect of postmodernism – the creation of innovative, surprising worlds. This is why I believe that this theory is the most useful tool we have for deciphering and understanding postmodern literature which unscrupulously presents works that are difficult, and indeed enigmatic. I hope that my analyses will help permanently integrate postmodern narrative experiments firmly into the history of Czech fiction.