Memory/Reminiscence. Notes to the Text by Lubomír Doležel “Život s literaturou. Vzpomínky a rozhovory”

Abstract

The article addresses the cognitive value of the ego-document by Lubomír Doležel Život s literaturou. Vzpomínky a rozhovory (2013) published as the sixtieth volume in the Edice Paměť series by the Prague publishing house Academia. Thanks to the analysis of the text, we receive the information necessary to create a picture of the past of the generation of Czechs born before World War II, such as the spiritual climate of this historical period, which is not possible to reproduce based on other documents. For our purposes, it was a sketch of a reflection on fragments of the autobiographical findings of Doležel, a Czech-Canadian linguist, literature theorist, who was among the representatives of the third generation of Czech structuralism, a generation connected by a shared experience of war and operating in a similar political and intellectual context (the dominance of Marxism and structuralism). His text is a record of a particular reality, registration, and testimony of places seen, people met, events he witnessed and leaving a trace of himself and the world in which he was a participant.