Thesis of Mircea Eliade; transcendental reality; work s of art of Julius Zeyer and Andrey Bely.

The article is based on a thesis of Mircea Eliade concerning the objects of the outer world. Perceived by an archaic man, these objects (towns, cathedrals, houses) do not carry any inner autonomous value. The value can be gained only by their becoming a part of the transcendental reality. On the basis of this idea two seemingly different writers are being compared: Julius Zeyer, a Czech writer having lived at the turn of the 19.century, and Andrey Bely, a Russian symbolist. Petersburg, the town, is seen as a symbol of chaos before the Creation; the mysterious house symbolizes the Earth as a drowning star. The main characters (Petersburg: Ableuchov; Dům u tonoucí hvězdy: Neznámý) feel terrified by history but this enables them to understand the instability of their deals and thus they are able to free themselves from time. They feel the desire to find their place in the "era of darkness". They are looking for something stable instead of the passing being.