This study compares the concept of the literary space "town" in the best Czech and Slovene short stories of the 1990s. Comment is made on the semantic role of themes connected with the town and how these are woven into the story. Spatial constants present in the story are identified as well as how these influence structure and language. The Slovene texts are drawn from the relatively numerous Czech translations, which facilitate comparative links with the reception of Slovene texts in the Czech Republic. Texts from authors of different poetic tendencies are dealt with. Literary space starts out as an intersection of actual space and is the starting point of the semantic structure of the story: in Topol's story Andél the space in question is a particular crossroads in Prague which is at the same time a key for decrypting secondary contexts. Postmodern space functioning as the autonomously realised object of the author's imagination is also described in relation to Kratchvil's Orfeus z Kénigu. In recent years a particular position is held by short stories permeated by a ruralist reverie on the countryside (e.g. Legátova's Želary) that have enjoyed some measure of success, similar to their predecessors in Slovenia, Tomšič in Lainšček. In addition to actual location we deal with space created by coordinates of intimacy and externality (Blatnik's Menjave kož), home and homelessness (Frančič's Ulica, Jančar), active and passive space (Topol's Andél), human closeness and distance, and the horizontal spaces house, street, town (Tokarsky's Alchymické příbìhy, Virk's Vrata) or the vertical space earth and sky (Topol's Andél).
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