Jan Mukařovský (11 November 1891 – 8 February 1975) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to includ ...

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, and

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

theorist. Mukařovský was professor at the

Charles University of Prague ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , under ...

. He is well known for his association with early

structuralism In sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, philosophy, and linguistics, structuralism is a general theory of culture and methodology that implies that elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship to a broader s ...

as well as with the ''

Prague Linguistic Circle The Prague school or Prague linguistic circle is a language and literature society. It started in 1926 as a group of linguists, philologists and literary critics in Prague. Its proponents developed methods of structuralist literary analysis an ...

'', and for his development of the ideas of Russian formalism. Among other achievements, he applied ideas from Geneva linguist and semiotician

Ferdinand de Saussure Ferdinand de Saussure (; ; 26 November 1857 – 22 February 1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. He is wide ...

to the analysis of literary and artistic expression, systematically applying and extending the concept of linguistic function to literary works and their reception in different periods. Mukařovský had a profound influence on structuralist theory of literature, comparable to that of

Roman Jakobson Roman Osipovich Jakobson (russian: Рома́н О́сипович Якобсо́н; October 11, 1896Kucera, Henry. 1983. "Roman Jakobson." ''Language: Journal of the Linguistic Society of America'' 59(4): 871–883. – July 18,Pilsen, then at a grammar school in Prague. In 1926 he was among the founders of the Prague Linguistic Circle, along with his close friend Roman Jakobson. In 1929, Mukařovský received his habilitation with the ''Máchův Máj. Estetická study,'' a work examining the romantic Czech poet

Karel Hynek Mácha Karel Hynek Mácha () (16 November 1810 – 5 November 1836) was a Czech romantic poet. Biography Mácha grew up in Prague, the son of a foreman at a mill. He learned Latin and German in school. He went on to study law at Prague University; ...

in the field of literary aesthetics. In 1934, Mukařovský was appointed professor at the

University of Bratislava Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is nam ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

. In 1938 he was appointed associate professor of aesthetics at the Charles University in Prague, which, however – like all other Czech universities – was closed by the occupying Nazis in November 1939. From 1941 to 1947 Mukařovský worked as an editor. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Mukařovský was favorable towards

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

, and in 1948, the year of the communist coup d'état, Mukařovský became full professor at the reopened university in Prague. In the same year he was also elected Rector, a post he held until 1953. Due to increasing

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...

pressure, Mukařovský recanted his prewar semiotic structuralism. In 1951 Mukařovský was appointed the director of the Institute for Czech Literature of the

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Czech: ''Československá akademie věd'', Slovak: ''Česko-slovenská akadémia vied'') was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Czech Academy of Scienc ...

, and remained in that position until 1962. Mukařovský's significance is not limited to his membership in the Prague Linguistic Circle. His ideas extended beyond the realm of linguistics into the fields of poetics and aesthetics. However, reception of his theories in the West remains limited, due in part to linguistic barriers. Mukařovský proposed to understand the literary work as a complex form. He distinguished four basic functions of language: the representative, expressive, appellative and the "aesthetic" function (Mukařovský 1938).

Karl Bühler Karl Ludwig Bühler (27 May 1879 – 24 October 1963) was a German psychologist and linguist. In psychology he is known for his work in gestalt psychology, and he was one of the founders of the Würzburg School of psychology. In linguistics he ...

had introduced the first three functions in the "Theory of Language" (Bühler 1934) and Mukařovský added the fourth. Emphasis on the aesthetic is also reflected in his fundamental essays on the question: What is art? In "Art as Semiotic Fact," Mukařovský emphasized two characteristics of the artwork: The autonomic function and the communicative function. Prior to World War II, Mukařovský, along with Jakobson, was close to members of the Czech avant-garde, interesting himself particularly in the

Devětsil The Devětsil () was an association of Czech avant-garde artists, founded in 1920 in Prague. From 1923 on there was also an active group in Brno. The movement discontinued its activities in 1930 (1927 in Brno). Founded as U. S. Devětsil (Uměleck ...

group and the Prague

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

group.

Works

* ''Dějiny české literatury'' (1959–1961), history of Czech literature, chief editor, three volumes * ''Studien zur strukturalistischen Ästhetik und Poetik'' (1974) * ''On Poetic Language'' (1976), translated by John Burbank and Peter Steiner * ''The Word and Verbal Art: Selected Essays'' (1977), translated and edited by John Burbank and Peter Steiner * ''Kapitel aus der Ästhetik'' (1978) * ''Structure Sign and Function: Selected Essays'' (1978), translated and edited by John Burbank and Peter Steiner * ''Aesthetic Function, Norm and Value as Social Facts'' (1970), Mark E. Suino translator {{DEFAULTSORT:Mukarovsky, Jan Czech literary critics People of the Prague linguistic circle Systemic functional linguistics Charles University faculty Rectors of Charles University People from Písek 1891 births 1975 deaths