"Captured by Love" - The Kenotic Power of a Poor Lady and the Symbolism of her Room in the Prose of Jaroslav Durych

Abstract

The aim of the article is to point at some possibilities of theological-anthropological interpretation of the relation between man and woman as reflected in literature, namely in the work of the leading Czech Catholic writer of the first half of the 20th century Jaroslav Durych (1886-1962). We would like to emphasise that the specific structure of meaning of his work refers to the determination of man in the eternal Trinitarian love rather than to individual accents of the author’s thinking. This referential potential is further elaborated by the reflexion on the symbolism of female protagonists’ rooms in Durych’s writings. The first part of the article lists various possibilities of theological approach towards Durych’s literary work. Then in introduces basic conceptual features of the narration about the relation between man and woman while mentioning the possibility to understand this narration as a parable of human existential pilgrimage. Simultaneously, we hint at the strong referential potential of the work regarding the determination of man in Christ. Finally, this potential is elaborated by the symbolism of female protagonists’ rooms.