Václav Černý’s parrhesia

This essay is one of the final works of Professor Petr Steiner (1946–2024), a Czech-American literary theorist and historian of literary-critical thought. In it, he examines Václav Černý, a key figure in 20th-century Czech culture. Steiner traces Černý’s conception of literary criticism, which centered on the notions of personality and truth. Steiner notes that many of Černý’s statements, claims, and definitions are mutually contradictory, and thus questions whether Černý’s positions can be described coherently. He finds inspiration in the concept of “parrhesia” (παρρησία), which Michel Foucault understands not merely as a discursive technique, but as a term pertaining to the ethical foundation of truth. Parrhesia is the sincere expression of absolute loyalty to the truth, where the truth-telling personality is what it says it is. The statements may be contradictory, but the plane of coherence is anchored to the subject, who truthfully expresses their opinions. This leads to a fusion of consciousness and conscience, and a transcendence of the realm of language into the realm of ethical action (the practice of freedom).