“Farewell to the Whole Epoch”: The Zone as the Beginning and End of the Czech Avant-garde

Inspired by Apollinaire, members of the Czech avant-garde group Devětsil, established in 1920 under the leadership of Karel Teige, sought to dismantle the thematic composition and structure of their long poems—“zones.” In the 1930s, however, “zone” as a literary genre had a different character. As a reaction to political and cultural events, long poems depicted the alienation of the individual and feelings of anxiety stemming from the conflict between the individual and the world. This changed approach to the modern world is embodied by Mluvící pásmo [Talking Zone], published in 1939 by Czech modernist poet Milada Součková. While drawing connections across borders, this long poem offers a view of what constitutes Czech epic as modernism came to an end.