Michal Charypar
The creative "Self" between psychologism in art and the materiality of Life. An Arbes melange
In terms of material, this paper draws from Jakub Arbes's extensive journalistic work. Arbes's in-dividuality and his "I" are very often described in psychological terms - there is much reference to the "mysterious characters" of obscure and real geniuses, insights from the "mental workshop" of poets, and so forth. Clearly, the author was also no less interested in the life circumstances of artists than in contemporary psychology, i.e. not only among writers, but also painters and sculptors, past and present. His critical essays are thus based on biographism, which was common at that time. Despite the author's repeated assurances that he is presenting "mere facts", nowhere do we encounter a drily factual description of events. Quite the reverse, thanks to his interest in characterization, reality often turns into fiction, "stories" emerge of art works reflecting the individuality of their creators, and the narration takes on a mythologizing tinge as a romanetto.
Keywords: Jakub Arbes – criticism – art – originality – plagiarism
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