Scholarly record

THE PHENOMENON OF "CULT FICTION" AND ITS MEANING IN ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES AND IN CENTRAL EUROPE

M. Pilar

Abstract

In English speaking countries, several literary monographs and dictionaries about cult fiction were published in the last decades. In our postmodern times, this seems to be quite an inspiring topic because it deals with constant tension between “high brow” literary values usually recommended by state education systems on the one hand, and spontaneous need to overcome these somewhat petrified systems of thinking about artistic values on the other hand. This effort is usually supported by independent intellectuals and artists who do not expect any praise from state and cultural establishment. In the first part of the essay, main ways of defining are discussed according to British and American sources, and in the following part, they will be compared with cult fiction as it is less exactly understood in Central European literatures. It is not difficult to imagine that a dictionary of Central European cult literature could be created, too. In existing cult fiction dictionaries mentioned above, only several names of Central European authors are included. Yet, the phenomenon of cult literature exists in this entirely different cultural milieu and has the characteristic features of local alternative (or independent) culture. In Czech literary context, numerous representatives of cult literature have probably something in common with literary underground after WWII and some of its predecessors, extraordinary poets and novelists (usually not mentioned in school textbooks), can be also taken into consideration. Milan Kundera and his novels can serve to us as a typical example of a highly appreciated Western intellectual who can be extremely provocative and therefore for a certain kind of readers hardly bearable. That is the main reason why he is included in English monographs and dictionaries of cult fiction. However, in the Czech Republic, he definitely is not a cult writer – for many, mostly political reasons. On the other hand, it is quite evident that English ways of defining cult fiction can (and probably should) be used in Central European context because they could help us to understand why certain authors are more admired, or even adored by reading public than the authors who are paid special attention by traditional literary criticism.

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