EN
This article is concerned with Czech Avant-garde fiction shortly after the First World War, which is, unlike the Avant-garde optimism declared in manifestos, also revealed in the ‘Proletarian phase’ of Czech Avant-garde expressions of uncertainty and alienation. In stories by members of Devětsil and the Literární skupina (writers, for example, Jaroslav Hůlka, Jiří Wolker, Karel Schulz, Lev Blatný, Karel Hradec, and Miloslav Nohejl) attention is paid to the relationship between characters and things. Anthropomorphization is interpreted in the text as the artistic depiction of the sense of a boundary between subject and object transgressed and as a theme demonstrating the connection between the Expressionist and the utopian Avant-garde styles. The author of the article uses a particular text to illustrate changes in models of anthropomorphization, and demonstrates ever more active objects moving from equal partner in dialogue with a character to the position of protector from the world and ultimately to aggressor. The article’s conclusions compare Avant-garde graphic art, particularly that accompanying the texts considered here.