Witnesses of (Good) Old Times: On Perception in Bohumil Hrabal's Novel Harlequin's Millions

Based on previously published articles dealing with the outer and inner space in Bohumil Hrabal's novel Harlequin's Millions, this study is devoted to the phenomenon of “the witnesses of (good) old times” who, as characters, occupy a great deal of the narration, yet are simultaneously a purely surrealistic illusion within the fictional world. The theoretical point of departure is perception, embedded in the wider scope of consciousness and motion (kinetics). Thus, within the narration, a special form of perception arises, oscillating between the purely sensory perception of the witnesses and their being conceived of as mental images, despite their real life actions as characters in the novel's narration. Hrabal himself ironically designated the novel as “a fairy tale”, thereby intentionally questioning the degree of truthfulness of this highly biographical fiction.