Pechar, J., Imagination and Thought in the Game of History. Prague: Pulchra. 2017.

The relationship between thought and imagination is of fundamental importance for both literature and philosophy. A book in which the Central European perception of reality is confronted with the thinking of neighbouring cultures influenced by a different history. The new book by Jiří Pechar (1929), aesthetician, literary theoretician, philosopher and translator puts the Czech view on the blending of philosophy and literature into the context of world literature and thinking. Some Pechar's considerations have their starting point in reflection on certain literary works or certain literary personalities, whether in connection with the medieval thought of Dante's Divine Comedy, in connection with Goethe's cultural synthesis, or in connection with the most dramatic aspects of individual and society life the novel works of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Proust's work gave him the opportunity to develop his reflections on the experience of what transcends of time and at the same time one's own self. The theme of imagination is related to Freud's interpretation of dreams and memories of early childhood, which is followed by a reflection on the role played by comparisons of life and dreams in certain literary works. In the context of Christianity and faith, Pechar also reflects on some of the ideas of Jan Patočka. The fact that the history of Europe evolves in the sequence of individual parts of the book - with a special regard to Czech history - also reflects on the former disputes over the meaning of Czech history.