Reception and Czech translations Story of O, a novel by Pauline Réage

1 Abstract The thesis describes the reception and Czech translations of Story of O by Pauline Réage, an erotic novel which was considered scandalous in its time (1954) and became part of the canon of French contemporary prose. In the first part, the thesis characterizes the structure and style of Story of O. It then presents the specific context of its first publication and places the novel in the evolution of French literature. In this part, the thesis also attempts to describe the reception context in the fifties and compares the situation with how the novel is perceived by the current literary scene and cultural domain in general. In this part of the reception analysis, the thesis relies on critical reviews in French periodicals and reactions on the internet. It also mentions the perspective of literary theoreticians on similarly themed works. In the second part, the thesis introduces two Czech translations and attempts to recreate the reasons which led to the publication of the first translation Příběh O.: krásná z Roissy, Tabu, 1991 by Lucie Erbenová and the second translation Příběh O; Návrat do Roissy, Host, 2005 by Matěj Turek. Furthermore, it presents the reasons for the republication in Host in 2013. The analysis of the current reception in the target culture preceeds the focal part of this thesis..