Turnstile of religious symbols: from Hrabal to Czech prose of the 90s. of the 20th century. Case of Martin Komárek’s "Mefitis"

The ambiguous presence of religious themes in Czech prose of the end of the twentieth century is not sufficiently described by literary scholars. Czech literary critics did not appreciate the importance of this phenomenon. From the post-secular perspective it is clear that religious themes in literature are a manifestation of the search for metaphysics, crossing the rationalist vision of the world. The author reconstructs the symbolic language used by Martin Komárek when raising the subject of religion. His novel Mefitis is a record of contemporary experience of religiousness.