ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on three major and relevant motifs that appear in the novel: double or multiple personalities, live burial or entombment, and theatrical and spectacular effects. Czech poet Vítezslav Nezval presents other topics and elements that appeared in The Monk and other works of Gothic literature such as incest, siblings separated at birth, a nun conceiving in a convent, issues related to homosexuality and heterosexuality, vampirism, secret and coded messages, and anti-Catholic sentiments. Nezval's most valuable works were written between the wars, and Valerie a tyden divu [Valerie and her Week of Wonders] remains his most appreciated Surrealist fiction. The elements Valerie shares with the Gothic tradition are related to scenic and theatrical effects. The aspects of theatricality which link Nezval's with Lewis's novel are probably most conspicuous in the church scenes. Many Czech critics believe that in Valerie Nezval overcame the limitations of Surrealism, creating a compact story almost entirely based on the poetics of the roman noir.
