The Questionnaire (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Jiří Grusa
- First Published: 1978
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Realism
- Time of Work: The onset of World War II through the early 1970’s
- Setting: Chlumec, a town in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia
- Genres: Long fiction, Frame story
- Subjects: Values, Communism or communists, Adolescence, Twentieth century, Imagination, Humanism, Bureaucracy or bureaucrats, Czechoslovakia or Czechoslovakians
- Locales: Bohemia
Characters Discussed
Jan Chrysostom Kepka (HREH- soh-stohm), a self-professed time traveler (Jan Chrysostom Chrononaut) and the main protagonist of the novel, as well as its narrator. Strangely enough, Jan is present at his own carefully observed conception and, later, at his unexpected death. The nature of the narrative, however, allows him both to die and to continue living and telling. Most of the time, Jan addresses his remarks to a certain functionary named Pavlenda, usually called “Comr. Pavlenda,” with the title of “Comr.” signifying “friend, mate, companion,...
[The entire page is 502 words long]
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