Gran Ola de Frío de diciembre de 1970 / enero de 1971

In defining the grotesque image and situation, I follow the definitions critics have given, describing a paradox perceived

i^Ibid., p. 201. Dr Cerny resembles the witty and ugly Polichinelle, a figure deriving from the commedia dell' arte mask pulcinella. His white costume, however, identifies him with Pierrot, deriving from the commedia dell'arte mask Pedrolino.

iN^bid., pp. 121-2. i^^bid., p. 40.

i^^bid., p. 202. Cerny's dwarf-like dimensions are those of the traditional court jester.

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as fundamental to human experience. The grotesque situation has different manifestations: Pynsent discusses mismatched couples in 'Ôapek-Chod and the Grotesque'. Grotesque images and situations in Ôapek-Chod's works also arise from a comic or ironic treatment of death.

The tendency of Ôapek-Chod's narrators to demystify death and disappoint lyrical expectations is evident in 'San Jago'. The ridiculous death of the seminarian Jago constitutes the first use of a motif that was to become common in Ôapek-Chod's works: a death unintentionally caused by a loved one. This pattern suggests the foolishness of man's attempt to influence his fate, and ironizes the notion of romantic love. Jago's beloved, Anunciata, severs several strands of the bell rope, hoping to ensure the death of her betrothed, Pedro, who has the honour of ringing the enormous church bell on the saint's day. This honour is transferred to Jago at the last minute; he falls from the tower to his death while swinging the bell.^^°

The motif occurs twice in Kaspar Lén mstitel: the public messenger Cverenc asserts that dëdek fajfka's death is caused by his blind grandson. The worker jumps from the scaffolding on the building site on hearing his grandson's v o i c e . Dëdek fajfka's death is doubly ironic in that he believed the grandson, a dexterous basket-weaver, would support him in his old a g e . The prostitute Mafka does not literally cause the death of her sweetheart and self-appointed 'saviour' Lén, but her seizure in the court following her testimony against him figuratively infects him, as the diction and imagery of the final passage make clear.

The eponymous Dr Salvëj ('Mimofâdnÿ profesor dr. Salvëj ') dies as a result of seducing his housemaid Filoména. He has learned from a doctor that he will not have long to live unless

i^^apek-Chod, 'San Jago', Povldky, Prague, 1892, p. 152. This short story was not included in the 1922 edition.

i^Ôapek-Chod, Kaspar Lén mstitel, pp. 112-13. ^^^Ibid. , p. 68.

he gives up smoking and drinking coffee. He gives up both. After losing his virginity to Filoména, however, at the age of fifty, he feels rejuvenated and drinks and smokes while he considers marrying the woman. He has a heart attack as he rushes to propose to her.^^'* The grotesque aspect of his death is suggested by the conclusion to the short story: Filoména, who is already engaged to a railway official, refuses to postpone the wedding, even to accomodate Dr êalvëj's funeral. Helena Lukutova ('Dusza ordynarna ...') is, indirectly, responsible for the death of her first love Antonin Mâlek. After leaving her to rejoin his regiment, Mâlek repeats to his superior officer the words with which Helena had cursed him, 'Dusza ordynarna', whereupon he is shot. Representations of vitality and regeneration (a marriage or birth) accompany descriptions of the death of a character; this is the case with Armin Frey, Dr Salvëj , Klimt and Vendrejc.

Other deaths in ëapek-Chod's works can be regarded as grotesque in that they are presented as simultaneously risible and pitiable; Thomson writes: 'what is essential to the grotesque is a conflict and confusion which is to be found in both the work itself and in the reaction it typically evokes'.^* One of the clearest examples is Klimt's death, in 'Sniva Katenina'. Benyskova's death, in V tfetlm dvofe, is also both comic and horrifying. In the description of Benÿsek's discovery of the suicide, the representation of the corpse as a marionette mutes reactions of shock or pity in the implied reader: 'Chopil ji za rameno a prudce ji strSil, ale na mistë co by se mêla pohnouti

i^Ôapek-Chod, 'Mimofâdnÿ profesor dr. Salvëj ', Z mësta i obvodUf Prague, n. d. [1913], pp. 81-3. It is not certain that he is a virgin, but he does tell the doctor who examines him that he is 'témë? tak nevinnÿm jako kvartan'. Ibid., p. 66.

i^'Gapek-Chod, 'Dusza ordynarna ...', Ad hoc!, Prague, 1919, p. 104. In 'Nedonoseny', also in Ad h o d , Anna unwittingly provokes her husband to hang himself.

^^**Thomson, The Grotesque in German Poetry 1880-1933, p. 6. i^Pynsent discusses this in 'Ôapek-Chod and the Grotesque', pp. 203-04.

horn! ôàstl tëla, zaklâtily se ji nohy kÿvadlem.'^* The potentially slapstick aspects of the scene are evoked by the narrator's dry comment, '"Ma uboha cerunka Bâbinka" visela', as well as the corpse's slide from the upright position against the wall, where Benysek has placed it. The horrific nature of the incident is evoked by the description of Benyskova's face: 'Svraskla bezreta usta by la vzdornë naduta do spiCky, z ni% Couhal koneCek fialovë modreho jazyka.'^° The position of the blind child Rudolfek at the feet of the corpse also contributes to the ambiguity in the scene and in the reader's response. Rudolfek cries and clutches his mother's body, without full awareness of what has happened.

The bow-legged miller Jirka in 'Prasatka se ztratily ... ' dies as a result of his own good deed. The poor miller steals his neighbour's pigs. The neighbour beats her daughter for not minding the pigs, and the girl then tries to drown herself. Jirka rescues her and returns the pigs. He catches a chill, however, after fishing the girl from the water, falls ill and dies. The narrator comments on Jirka's deed: 'tam nad nâma, kde vedou se knihy o lidskÿch dusich, by la Jirkova duse v ûëtu ztraty skrtnuta, pfenesena znova na ûôet zisku a tu ëervenë podtrhnuta, nebot', jak znamo, nad hfisnikem pokani ëinicim ...'^^ The irony in this remark is indicated by the story's conclusion: the neighbour, having received a good price for her pigs at market, can now afford to show generosity to the deceased Jirka, tying his jaws together with her own s c a r f .

The description of Bures's motives for attacking the Bosnian guerrilla ('Znova a lépe') is also grotesque. Bures pities his fellow soldier, mortally wounded in the stomach: 'byl to zvlâstë

i^Ôapek-Chod, V tifetlm dvoîfe, p. 228. i^Ibid., pp. 228-29.

i^ibid., p. 229.

i^ëapek-Chod, 'Prasatka se ztratily ...', Dar svatého Floriana a ^viifatka a Petrovstl, p. 179. The comment ironizes the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

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ûpënlivÿ, takfka nelidskÿ, vfestëni postfeleného zajîce pfipomînajici ton nâfku poranëného, nad nim% Bures plakal slzy a2 zalykavé'.^s At the same time, he is horrified by the behaviour of another wounded soldier, meticulously dictating his will to a comrade from the same home town. Bures's longing to silence this man is fulfilled by the enemy, who interrupts with a shot the stream of words he mistakes for curses. Bures, however, is enraged rather than relieved by the shooting. A combination of these intolerable, contradictory emotions, as well as the unbearable pain in his heels resulting from his sustained crouched position, drives Bures to attack the enemy.

An image of the living consuming the dead occurs in three works. In the first two instances, the image is intended to convey the absurdity and horror of World War I, thus the comic aspect is almost overwhelmed by the humanitarian. In 'Dceruska Jairova', the narrator ironically describes the rooks feeding on the corpses of soldiers abandoned at the front:

Zpoëâtku, kdy% se osazovaly zdejsi baterie, 2ivi velmi të%ce snâseli pohled na fâdëni ëernÿch ptâkù a dùstojnici stfileli je z brokovnic, ale krkavci, ptactvo jinak plache, stall se neodbytnÿmi jako mouchy, a za tÿden zvyklo se tomu tak, 2e u2 se nikomu nezda tak hroznÿm, co se mu pfed tim zdalo nejnesnesitelnëjsim, vidëti toti2, jak nëkterÿ z tëch dravcù ku2elovitého zobanu kohosi z tëch hromad prakticky pfesvëdëuje, 2e jsa mrtev, u2 nemâ zapotfebi

A similar image occurs in Jindrové, although the mingled horror and irony in the tone of description are here diluted. In the trenches at the front, Jindra Junior watches a large bird of prey and its mate tear up the face of a dead soldier trapped in the barbed wire. The bird is killed by a shot from the enemy trenches.^* In its last occurrence, in Humoreska (1924), the image constitutes an aside, suggesting the banality of the life

i^Ôapek-Chod, 'Znova a lépe', Patero novel, p. 19. '^ibid., p. 21.

i^Ôapek-Chod, 'Dceruska Jairova', Ad h o d , p. 282. *^0apek-Chod, Jindrové, pp. 230-1.

cycle and ironizing Hupka's mad grief over the death of his son: 'Veliky, hfbitovnimi dervy tuCny kos notoval si vzadu na zdi fletnovy svùj popëvek a zoôiv samidku, rychle se kmitl za ni

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