Průvodce světěm socialistické technokracie. Prozaická tvorba Stanislava Váchy jako historický pramen

• Authors: Vítězslav Sommer

Title variants

EN

The guide to the world of socialist technocracy: Stanislav Vácha's fiction as a historical source

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

The article discusses to what extent can historians use literary fiction as a historical source for their research on technocracy i state socialist Czechoslovakia. This case study focuses on the literary work of Czechoslovak economist and writer Stanislav Vácha. Since the 1950s to 1990s Vácha wrote numerous novels about socialist managers and economists. This article argues that Vácha's novels are unique historical sources providing valuable insights in the mentality of professional middle class in Czechoslovakia before 1989. While using Vácha's novels and similar materials as historical sources historians are able too expand our knowledge of social and cultural history of expert cultures in state socialist era.

Keywords

EN

Czechoslovakia; state socialism; central planning expertise; realism; fiction; economics

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Masaryk's Institute and Archives, ASCR
• Journal: Střed. Časopis pro mezioborová studia Střední Evropy 19. a 20. století. / Centre. Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies of Central Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries.
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 98-123
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Vítězslav Sommer

• Masarykův ústav a archiv AV ČR, v.v.i., Gabčíkova 2362/10, 182 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic