Short story or an autobiographical complaint? Characteristics of Czech Contemporary Short Stoires

Based on the interpretation of selected texts, this work aims at describing some significant phenomenons of the contemporary Czech short story written by young and middle-age authors and at searching a short story-specific depiction of their conception of nowadays life. Its partial purpose is to figure out in which way the texts follow - or not - and influence - or not - the conventions of the genre. This analysis is founded on several Czech and foreign theoretical concepts of the short story; the studied materials being the texts of three authors of distinct poetics, namely Kateřina Rudčenková, Jan Balabán and Emil Hakl. Interpretations of these diverse texts reveal some common symptomatic aspects and coherences between the rejection of certain conventions of the short story genre and the testimony of contemporary life. The interdisciplinary-concepted closing chapter explores the possible relations between this specific literary message about the human being and his world and the sociological or philosophical reflections on postmodern times