Když dva mluví o tomtéž: knížky lidového čtení, prozaický román a místo fikčního vyprávění v české literatuře raného novověku

The essay summarizes the academic research of Czech early modern chapbooks (knižky lidoveho čteni/Volksbucher) and confronts it with the parallel and yet differing observations in early modern German studies. It argues that the term Volksbuch/knižky lidoveho čteni has been shifting the focus almost exclusively toward the later reception of these early modern narratives in the 17th–19th centuries, thus leading to neglect of their original status as translations created in the 16th century. The essay suggests adopting the term Prosaroman established in German philology and analyzing the texts primarily in the context of contemporary reception of German early modern novels. It concludes that this aforementioned approach can bring new perspectives on the implicit poetics of the early modern vernacular novel and, as a case example, analyzes the 16th century Czech translation of Melusine.