THE INTERRELATION OF CHARACTER AND PLOT: ON THE POETICS OF THE CZECH NARRATIVE FICTION FROM 1830 UNTIL 1895

The study deals with the problem of systematic relationships between literary characters and action or, more precisely, between characters and organization of action in the plot. The examples are taken from Czech narrative fiction from the 1830s until the early 1890s. The main idea, continuously questioned in the text, is a supposition that typical characters or configurations of characters also bring about typical plot patterns. All levels of literary characters are taken into consideration, not only protagonists. Literary character itself is conceived here strictly as a set of qualities and characteristics stated in a concrete fictional text, i.e. it is assumed that those features which are not stated (selectively, for different characters, e. g. their ability of loud speech, different physical or mental abilities, etc.) are not contained in a fictitious character and do not contribute to the action.