<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The aim of the paper is to characterize the city of Bratislava after the First World War as a literary space in the short story <italic>The Worst Crime in Wilson City</italic> (Najhorší zločin vo Wilsonove) and its film adaptation <italic>Wilson City</italic> (Wilsonov). For millions of Czechs and Slovaks, the US President W. Wilson was a legendary figure. The multi-ethnic city wanted to gratify him and suggested to name itself after him. This short episode of our history was found interesting for a Slovak writer Michal Hvorecký, who set a mysterious (horror) short story in Wilson City (Bratislava). The topos of the city became the basic organizational, or, structural element on which the story is built. In the film adaptation of the Czech director Tomáš Mašín there was a generic shift and the film became a detective comedy, or parody of historical events that happened (or could have happened). The paper focuses on the motif of the city and compares this urban space in the literary and film form. It tries to answer the question whether the city – space is only a backdrop of the story or it becomes its (role)player.</p></abstract>

The aim of the paper is to characterize the city of Bratislava after the First World War as a literary space in the short story The Worst Crime in Wilson City (Najhorší zločin vo Wilsonove) and its film adaptation Wilson City (Wilsonov). For millions of Czechs and Slovaks, the US President W. Wilson was a legendary figure. The multi-ethnic city wanted to gratify him and suggested to name itself after him. This short episode of our history was found interesting for a Slovak writer Michal Hvorecký, who set a mysterious (horror) short story in Wilson City (Bratislava). The topos of the city became the basic organizational, or, structural element on which the story is built. In the film adaptation of the Czech director Tomáš Mašín there was a generic shift and the film became a detective comedy, or parody of historical events that happened (or could have happened). The paper focuses on the motif of the city and compares this urban space in the literary and film form. It tries to answer the question whether the city – space is only a backdrop of the story or it becomes its (role)player.

Historical Bratislava in literary fiction and film adaptation

Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra

Journal of Language and Cultural Education

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Historical Bratislava in literary fiction and film adaptation"}

The aim of the paper is to characterize the city of Bratislava after the First World War as a literary space in the short story The Worst Crime in Wilson City...

Historical Bratislava in literary fiction and film adaptation

Published Online: Nov 11, 2020

Page range: 149 - 157

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0009

Keywords
motif, literature, film, adaptation

© 2020 Dominika Hlavinová Tekeliová, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Historical Bratislava in literary fiction and film adaptation

Published Online: Nov 11, 2020

Page range: 149 - 157

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0009

Keywordsmotif, literature, film, adaptation

© 2020 Dominika Hlavinová Tekeliová, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
motif, literature, film, adaptation