CZECH LITERATURE

Writings in the CZECH LANGUAGE, (q.v.) or in the related Old Church Slavonic language. Czech literature, one of the oldest of the vernacular literatures of central and eastern Europe, may be divided into six chronological periods.

865–1410.

Czech literature began with the introduction of Christianity into Moravia about 863 by Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavs. The earliest extant literary monument (11th cent.) is the hymn Hospodine, pomiluj ny (Lord, have mercy upon us).

Latin writing, including an important chronicle of Bohemia, by the monk Cosmas (c. 1045–1125), prevailed during the next two centuries. At the beginning of the 14th century a Czech translation was made of the Latin Alexandreid, a life of Alexander the Great, by the French poet Gautier de Lille (fl. 1170–80). A rhymed Czech chronicle marked by strong nationalist feeling appeared about the same time, along with several religious legends in Czech verse, culminating in a great verse Life of Saint Catherine. A verse dialogue, The Groom and the Student, full of colorful details of medieval daily life, and a novel with a romantic plot, Tkadle[ccaron]ek (The Weaver), appeared about 1400.

1410–1620.

This period is marked by the Hussite religious reformation carried out by the Bohemian preacher John Huss (Jan Hus) and his followers. Huss, an ardent nationalist who wrote popular theological works in Czech, demonstrated his concern for the language by writing such studies as his De Orthographia Bohemica (Czech Orthography, c. 1412). His follower Petr Chel[ccaron]icky (c. 1390–1460) wrote Sít víry (The Net of Faith, 1440), a satire of contemporary life.

Chel[ccaron]icky's followers formed the church later known as the Moravian Brethren. Jan Blahoslav (1523–71), bishop of the Brethren, a poet and writer on musical and poetic theory, was the author of a scholarly Czech Grammar. Along with others, he took part in the compilation of the Czech Protestant Kralice Bible (1579–93), which served as a literary model of classical Czech.

Printing was introduced into Bohemia in 1468, and during the next 150 years humanism and Renaissance culture spread throughout the Czech lands. The outstanding humanist writer was perhaps Daniel Adam of Veleslavín (1546–99), who combined the talents of a historian, philologist, orator, and publisher. His most famous work is a Historical Calendar (1575).

1620–1774.

In 1620 the Czechs lost political independence, and in 1627 Ferdinand II, Holy Roman emperor, made Roman Catholicism the state religion of Bohemia. The outstanding writer of these times was John Amos Comenius, the last bishop of the Moravian Brethren. In exile, Comenius continued the suppressed Hussite tradition, also writing in Czech and Latin on a great variety of subjects from philology to philosophy. Most important were his works on educational theory and methods and his textbooks, including Janua Linguarum Reserata (The Gates of Language Unlocked, 1631) and The Great Didactic (1628–32; trans. 1896, 1931).

In Bohemia itself, under Habsburg rule, a “dark time” set in during which the use of the Czech language in writing and printing diminished greatly; Czech nationalist sentiment was almost totally repressed, and society became Germanized. In 1774 Maria Theresa, queen of Hungary and Bohemia, decreed the use of German as the language of instruction.

National Revival (1774–1918).

The forcible suppression of the Czech language produced results entirely contrary to those intended by the Habsburg rulers. Czech nationalism revived, and writers took a renewed interest in the history of their country, stressing kinship with the other Slav peoples. The leader in the study of the Czech language and history was Josef Dobrovsky (1753–1829). He collected extensive lexicographic materials and established the richness of classical Czech.

Josef Jungmann (1773–1847) compiled a great Czech dictionary (1834–39) that helped lay the foundations for the development of modern Czech literature. In 1811 he translated the epic Paradise Lost by the English poet John Milton, and his translation served as a model for the new poetry. Another important writer was the Slovak pastor Ján Kollár, famous for his Slávy dcera (Daughter of Sláva, 1824); this collection of sonnets provided an ideology and romantic inspiration for the Czech Revival movement. František Ladislav Čelakovsky (1799–1852) wrote romantic poems in the style of Czech and Russian folk songs. František Palacky (1798–1876), called the father of the nation, wrote a monumental history of Bohemia (1836–67) in five volumes.

The greatest poet of the period was Karel Hynek Mácha (1810–36). His romantic narrative poem Máj (May, 1836) evokes the tragic paradox of young love and death. Karel Jaromír Erben (1811–70) wrote tragic folk ballads. Karel Havlí[ccaron]ek Borovsky (1821–56) laid the foundations of modern Czech journalism and criticism. He attacked Austrian absolutism in his newspaper articles and in humorous satirical poems. Bo[zcaron]ena Němcová (1820–62) created the forms of the Czech prose tale and novel, blending the influence of the rural stories of the French novelist George Sand with her own observations of Czech peasant life.

The Austrian political reaction of the 1850s discouraged the growth of Czech literature, but during the 1860s a new national school of writers emerged led by Jan Neruda (1834–91), who created the newspaper essay as a medium for education of his people. Neruda also wrote cryptic, ironic poetry and colorful stories about the life of the Prague middle classes.

The next generation of Czech writers split into two camps. The Parnassians, led by the great poet Jaroslav Vrchlicky (pseudonym of Emil Frída, 1853–1912), introduced exotic foreign themes and subjects into Czech literature. The Nationalists, led by the poet Svatopluk Čech (1846–1908), continued the predominantly nationalistic and patriotic tradition. This conflict was resolved in the following generation by the great Czech thinker and political leader Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and by the leading Czech critic František Xaver Šalda (1867–1937). Masaryk laid down the principles of a new realism, which, while avoiding the excesses of both the nationalist and Parnassian groups, would offer Czechs a realistic sense of their national aspirations and possibilities. Šalda introduced avant-garde trends, including symbolism, into Czech literature. Czech symbolist and impressionistic poetry was cultivated by such writers as Otokar B[rcaron]ezina (pseudonym of Václav Jebavy, 1868–1929), a poet of mystical, ecstatic visions, and Antonín Sova (1864–1928), who wrote a highly musical and at the same time spiritualized poetry.

National Independence (1918–38).

After 1918, with the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak republic, a note of social optimism became evident in Czech literature. Stanislav Kostka Neumann (1875–1947), Ji[rcaron]í Wolker (1900–24), and Josef Hora (1891–1945) devoted their poetry to proletarian themes. In 1924 Vítězslav Nezval (1900–58) and František Halas (1901–49) founded a new movement that they called poetism, which emphasized “pure” poetry devoid of social content.

The novel of this period was marked by experiments in form and an emphasis on social problems. Marie Majerová (1882–1962) dealt with workers and the industrial scene, and Marie Pujmanová (1893–1958) specialized in portrayals of adolescent psychology. Jaroslav Hašek (1883–1923) achieved international success with his The Good Soldier Schweik (4 vol., 1920–23, trans. 1930), a bitterly satirical account of the adventures of a Czech dogcatcher serving in the Austrian Imperial Army during World War I.

Perhaps the greatest writer of this period, as well as the best known abroad, was Karel Čapek, famous for his fantastic dramas The Makropoulos Affair (1922; trans. 1927), an ironic discussion of human immortality, and R.U.R. (1921; trans. 1923), which first popularized robots. His science-fiction novel Krakatit (1924; trans. 1948) foresaw the explosive use of atomic energy. Čapek later turned to exploring the psychology of average citizens and their relation to society in a trilogy of novels: Hordubal (1933; trans. 1934), Meteor (1934; trans. 1935), and An Ordinary Life (1934; trans. 1936). Another outstanding writer of fiction was Vladislav Van[ccaron]ura (1891–1942), who experimented with surrealism in the novel.

1938–1968.

Literature suffered during the German occupation (1938–1945) of Czechoslovakia. Stultification as a result of Russian domination occurred after the coup d'état of 1948, which established the rule of the Communist party in Czechoslovakia. Previous Western cultural influences were thereafter attacked as “formalist,” “decadent,” or “cosmopolitanist.” Czech writers were mobilized to advocate the building of a socialist regime and socialist society. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, these controls were relaxed somewhat, and a period of liberalization began in the arts. One consequence of this change was a lively interest in the writings of the Austrian writer Franz Kafka, who had lived in Prague, and whose works became a principal source of influence on the new Czech writing.

This tendency to liberalization reached its culmination in 1968, with the celebrated “Prague Spring” and its short-lived flowering in the arts, including fiction, drama, and the cinema. In his novel The Axe (1966; trans. 1973), Ludvík Vaculík (1926– ) produced a sensitive study of the writer's own spiritual development amid the apparently insoluble contradictions of a socialist society. Well-known abroad was the dramatist Václav Havel, whose plays, such as The Garden Party (1963; trans. 1969) and The Memorandum (1965; trans. 1967), used the style of absurd comedy to mock socialist bureaucracy and bureaucratic language. He was imprisoned from 1979 to 1983 and again in 1989 for his antigovernment stance. Havel was president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and was elected president of the Czech Republic in 1993.

After the “Prague Spring.”

The flowering of liberalism came to an end in August 1968, with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Some writers subsequently emigrated and continued to publish abroad. Josef Škvorecky (1924– ) tells of his fellow Czech immigrants in Canada in The Engineer of Human Souls (trans. 1977); Milan Kundera (1929– ) went to France in 1975. Such novels as The Joke (1967; trans. 1969) and The Farewell Party (1976; trans. 1976) are witty and ironic treatments of the paradoxes of modern life and love. Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (trans. 1984), also made into a film, is a blackly humorous story of modern Prague.

Jaroslav Seifert, considered one of Czechoslovakia's greatest poets, remained in his homeland. In 1984 he became the first Czech to win the Nobel Prize in literature. His first book of poetry, Mesto v slzách (City in Tears), appeared in 1920; Svetlem odená (Clothed in Light, 1940), about wartime Prague, is his most popular work. Because of his opposition to the political regime, his later works—such as The Plague Monument (1980) and The Casting of Bells (1983; rev. 1984)—were available only in underground printings or abroad in translation. Seifert's memoirs were published in Czech in Canada in 1981. W.E.H., WILLIAM E. HARKINS, M.A., Ph.D.