Petr, Holman, Březiniana II. Dokumenty, ohlasy, paralely, přesahy 1966–2006. TRIÁDA 2012, 1 464 p., ISBN 978-80-87256-81-7.
A collage of opinions, notes, references and reflections on Otokar Březina from various persons who in some cases are immersed in the life of literature, both from Bohemia and from abroad, and in other cases come from various specialisations, and who react in a neutral, passionate, positive or negative manner. And they do so in their letters, reviews, specialised papers, dedications and the like. This reflects the work and life of a great poet of Czech and world symbolism, whose inspiration among other things also included the religious systems, texts and literature of ancient India.
However, this project did not arise only by way of a thorough investigation of libraries. An important source is also the correspondence and everyday oral communication (also by way of ordinary and electronic post, fax or even the telephone answering machine). On the basis of both oral and postal communication arose materials a broad geographical network, which document Březina’s almost planetary omnipresence.
The book offers a testimony about the existence and non-existence of the values, forms and properties of the Březinian phenomenon in the modern world, in other words a testimony about the modern world, which – for most of us surprisingly and unconsciously – appears as coherent phenomenon thanks to a poet considered to be a classic. This text is equally interesting both for a general reader and for a specialist in Březina’a work. – After Holman’s edition of the poet’s prosaic creation Hudba pramenů a jiné eseje (Music of the Springs and Other Essays, 1989, 1996), the previous volume of Březiniana studies (2003), to which refers the title of this Březiniana II, and after the complete edition of Březina’s Korespondence (Correspondence, 2004), the present text appears to be a new venture in the sphere of research in literary history as a document of the mutual interpenetration of the past and present.
