Nerudovy Obrazy života a realismus

The study looks into the question of to what extent Jan Neruda's early literary production (the period of 1859–1860 when he was a leading figure of the journal Obrazy života [Scenes of Life]) can be perceived as a contribution to the establishment of realism in Czech literature. The connection with this movement is obvious on the level of theoretical hypotheses, yet Neruda's own prose differs from traditional notions of realism in a number of features. This raises a question of whether existing conceptions of realism, based on principles of objective, probable and universal description of everyday life, is not too narrow and restricted to one variant of this movement, a variant limited to a specific period. Nevertheless, even if one reassesses and extends the concept of realism, it remains clear that some features of Neruda's prose subvert the noetic foundations of realism (especially the faith in the consistency of reality and its objectively verifiable knowability) and thus challenge the movement even before it has been fully established. Neruda can therefore be seen as a forerunner of Modernism.