This study describes the origin and development of the friendship between the literary scholar Jan Mukařovský (1891–1975) and the writer Vladislav Vančura (1891–1942). Mukařovský’s interpretations of Vančura’s literary works are the main focus of the study. Both Mukařovský’s published works and texts that were never published (e.g. university lectures) are analysed. On the basis of archival research, the author of the study proves that Mukařovský analysed Vančura’s work much earlier than he published his first-ever work on Vančura in 1934. In the course of the 1940s to 1960s, Mukařovský published many texts on Vančura in which he remembered Vančura as a friend, poet, Communist and anti-fascist activist.
The paper briefly outlines the reception of Russian literature of the so-called "Silver Age" focusing on Czech translation strategies. The process is divided into three stages: the first one is devoted de facto to the first half of the last century, the second to the four decades after 1948, and the third to the turn of the 20-21 centuries. In relation to the contemporary approach to the phenomenon of modern Russian literature, the contribution of the researcher and translator Danuše Kšicová to its Czech presentation and interpretation is explicitly mentioned.