The introduction to this study describes the genesis of Vladislav Vančura’s novel The End of the Old Times (1934), which was based on a film script about Baron Munchausen. This is followed by an outline of its critical reception at the time and its historical background. It involves both the phenomenon of emigration from Russia after 1917 and the land reform carried out in Czechoslovakia from 1919 onwards. The core of the study is an analysis of Jan Mukařovský’s study of the novel, published in 1934 in the journal Listy pro umění a kritiku (Art and Criticism) and Mukařovský’s afterword to the fourth edition of The End of the Old Times, published in 1958. The author also considers both analysed texts in the context of the relevant literature.