Abstract
The paper discusses the phenomenon of a well-known Czech folkloric character, the Spring Man, in its broader historical, social and pop-cultural context. This fictional hero appears in contemporary legends and anecdotes popular mostly during the Second World War; the narratives about the Spring Man represent a regional version (ecotype) of an international migratory legend about the originally English jumping urban phantom Spring-heeled Jack. Similarly to his English predecessor, the Czech Spring Man became a hero of popular culture, which, after 2002, rebranded this originally ambivalent urban apparition into the “first Czech superhero” of cartoons, comic books and movies.
Zusammenfassung
Der Aufsatz diskutiert das Phänomen des tschechischen Volkshelden, der „Spiralhopser“ oder „Federmann“ (engl. Spring man) genannt wird, in seinem historischen, sozialen und popkulturellen Kontext. Dieser fiktive Held erscheint in modernen Sagen und Anekdoten, die vor allem während des Zweiten Weltkriegs populär waren. Die Erzählungen über den Spiralhopser stellen eine regionale Version (Ökotype) einer internationalen Migrationssage dar, deren Ursprung auf das in England verbreitete springende urbane Phantom Spring-heeled Jack zurück geht. Ähnlich wie sein englischer Vorgänger wurde der tschechische Spiralhopser zum Helden der Populärkultur; seit 2002 wurde diese ursprünglich ambivalente urbane Erscheinung zum „ersten tschechischen Superhelden“ dargestellt in Cartoons, Comics und Filmen.
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