Karel Čapek’s Dialectical Portrayal of Knowledge in Hordubal, Meteor, and An Ordinary Life as a Response to Czechoslovak Nationalism

The trilogy of the Czech author and playwright Karel Čapek consists of the novels Hordubal, Meteor (Povětroň), and An Ordinary Life (Obyčejný Život). This thesis examines each novel in literary terms and especially its narrative techniques, with special attention to how each novel’s characters obtains understanding and knowledge as represented in the free indirect discourse within each text. Commentary on how the seemingly disjointed trilogy functions as a cohesive whole follows a brief narrative analysis. Analysis shows that each work represents a distinct part of Hegel’s tripartite presentation and resolution of logic. Čapek’s Hegelian trilogy allows him, as a citizen of the newly born First Czechoslovak Republic, to creatively respond to the problems that the country’s nationalism faced both within its borders and abroad. His trilogy conveys the desperate need for mutual understanding between European nations in an era of nationalistic fervor within the hope for peaceful coexistence despite political and cultural differences.