The purpose of the present dissertation is to study the elaborations of the initiation myth in contemporary Italian author Alessandro Baricco. The theoretical and methodological framework consists mainly of Mircea Eliade’s phenomenological theory of initiation. It is argued that the categories of space and time are interdepent in religious thought and should thus be studied as a unit, through the notion of the chronotope. The dissertation therefore proposes to introduce the concept of the chronotope of initiation as an operative tool, the intersection of the theories of Eliade and Mikhail Bakhtin, for the literary subgenre of the initiation novel. A hermeneutical analysis of the novels Oceano mare, Emmaus and Mr Gwyn demonstrates that the initiation myth is present in all three novels. The symbolism of death and rebirth is coherently enacted as a movement via the categories cosmos-chaos-cosmos, for which the author uses the symbolism of the earth to define cosmos (regularity and structure) and water symbolism for the regenerating chaos (dissolution and renewal). The different chapters of analysis accentuate the interaction of space and time within the different phases of the initiation pattern: the profane, the threshold, the sacred, the centre (the place where the actual ritual is enacted) and the return, which are all defined as chronotopes. The analysis shows that although the chronotope of initiation – the concept intending the fusion of the temporal event of ritual at the spatial centre – assumes different forms throughout the corpus, its function remains unmodified, with its purpose being the creation of ontological change. In its inherent structure, the chronotope of initiation unites antithetical spatial and temporal characteristics. Spatially it unites infinite and dissolving chaotic space with the constitutive envelope or sacred vertical centre, and temporally it brings together the ultimative ontological change at a fixed, historical moment with the eternal, sacred, time opened by ritual, representing the coincidentia oppositorum of the sacred. The analysis also shows that the so-called “portraits of the ineffable”, present in all three novels, reflect the same qualities. As immanent works of art, they function as thresholds into the infinite. From a chronological perspective, the dissertation shows a modification of the initiation pattern in Baricco’s writing: from the classical form in Oceano mare, via a more realistic application in Emmaus, to the most elaborate, meta-literary adaption in Mr Gwyn. Nevertheless, the use of the pattern and its thematic coherence reveals that Baricco consciously elaborates on the pattern to suit the contemporary context.

Tato diplomová práce zmapuje románovou tvorbu současného italského spisovatele Alessandra Baricca. Úvodem bude představen autor v kontextu současné italské prózy. V další části práce nastíníme charakteristiku postmoderního románu, zejména pokud jde o tříštění či dekompozici prostoru, času, příběhu a s tím související žánrovou heterogennost textu. V centrální části práce rozebereme jednotlivá díla, přičemž se budeme soustředit jak na příběh, jeho hlavní motivy a témata, tak na jeho kompozici a strukturu. Ve čtvrté kapitole využijeme dílčích analýz jako východiska ke komparativnímu přístupu k textům a pokusíme se najít společné i odlišné konstrukční principy jejich výstavby a návratná témata či motivické konstanty Bariccových próz. Závěrem zhodnotíme přínos tvorby Alessandra Baricca pro současnou italskou prózu.

Ce mémoire en création littéraire est divisé en deux parties distinctes. La première se compose de deux récits racontant un épisode de la vie d'une mère et de sa fille, Carole et Hélène. L'un des récits est narré par la mère ; l'autre par la fille. Centrés sur ces deux femmes, les récits mettent en lumière quelques bribes de leur passé ainsi que l'influence de celui-ci sur les événements présents. La seconde partie présente une réflexion critique sur le conflit narratif, c'est-à-dire sur les contradictions qui surgissent entre deux ou plusieurs récits portant sur la même histoire. Nous examinerons le fonctionnement de ce type de conflit ainsi que ses conséquences sur le lecteur et sa relation au texte en prenant exemple sur quatre romans : Tandis que j'agonise de William Faulkner, Les Fous de basson d'Anne Hébert, L'enfant de sable de Tahar Ben Jelloun et Océan mer d'Alessandro Baricco.

The Phd thesis titled Boundaries of the labyrinth and subtitled Literary space in the Italian postmodern novels strives for specification and closer definition of the genre of post-modern novel through the analysis of literary space. Formally, the thesis is divided into three parts. The first part aims to provide a theoretical introduction into the problems of three areas related to the given topic, namely the definition of postmodernity and postmodernism, the genre of the novel itself and last but not least the study of space in literature. The content of the second part is the actual literary and scientific analysis of the selected novels (Città invisibili and Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore by Italo Calvino, Notturno indiano by Antonio Tabucchi, Comici spaventati guerrieri by Stefano Benni and Oceano mare and City by Alessandro Baricco) which follows three basic and most frequent spacial topoi occurring in these novels, namely the topos of the city, the house-hotel and the road. The third and final section sums up the observed aspects and characteristics and strives to use them as a basis for determining a certain and generalizing spacial and temporal principle which would facilitate at least a partial characterization of the postmodern novel as an independent genre.