"Ordinary Life"; as a Polyphonic Composition

Čapek’s novel “Ordinary Life” is interpreted from the point of a narrative approach. The authors argue that Čapek’s novel, published in 1934, anticipates more recent narrative approaches in psychology, in which identity is conceived as a permanent reconstruction and reinterpretation of multiple versions of life stories. Čapek tells the story of an elderly man, who feels he must find some answers concerning the issue of his own identity. He starts to write an autobiography and during this process he finds plurality in himself, he uncovers the human being as a multitude of real and possible persons. The authors propose that Čapek’s novel corresponds to the contemporary narrative approaches in these following aspects: a) narrativity is considered as a tendency against trivialization (platitude, obviousness, straightforwardness, definiteness); b) identity is conceived as a polyphonic narrative construction; c) full narrative
human life.