The New International Encyclopædia/Czech literature

CZECH or BOHEMIAN LITERATURE. Among the Slavic literatures the Czech is inferior to the Russian or the Polish (qq.v.), although chronologically it precedes them both.

First Period (to 1410).—The earliest literature of the Czech language came into existence with the introduction of Christianity in Bohemia, in 865, by Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavs. The earliest extant monument is the Kyrie Eleison Hospodine pomiluj ny (Lord, have mercy upon us). Greek Christianity and the Cyrillic alphabet (see Kirillitsa), however, gave way to Latin Catholicism and Roman script. The famous Grüneberg manuscript (eighth or ninth century), the Judgment of Libusha, and the Königinhof manuscript (thirteenth or fourteenth century), discovered by Hanka in 1817, are the only remains in the native tongue which belong to this period, and their authenticity is somewhat doubtful. The influence of the Teutonic knights was growing rapidly among the natives, and the result was that until about the fourteenth century vernacular literature was entirely superseded by Latin. At the end of the thirteenth century a Czech translation of the Latin Alexandreis of Gualterus de Insulis (Philip Gaultier de Châtillon) was made, and to the early years of the following century belong Czech versions of two episodes from the Arthurian legend— Tristram, according to Eilhart of Oberge and Gottfried of Strassburg, and Taudariaš and Floribella, after Pleier. Original works in Czech are the famous Rhymed Chronicle of Bohemia, by Dalimil, of 1314, and the romantic story Tkadleček (The Weaver), written in strikingly beautiful prose about the end of the fourteenth century. Other works that contributed to the development of the literature were translations of the travels of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville. The original writers of the period are: Thomas Štitný (1325-1410), one of the first alumni of the University of Prague, which was founded in 1348; Andrew of Duba, and the poet Flaška. Štitný exercised a great influence over religion and literature in Bohemia, and, properly speaking, paved the way for the later Hussite movement. Andrew of Duba is the reputed author of The Book of the Old Lord Rosenberg and The Exposition of the Law of the Bohemian Land. Smil Flaška, Lord of Pardubitz, composed didactic and satirical poems—Father's Advice to His Son; Contest Between Water and Wine; Dispute Between Body and Soul; New Council; and The Groom and the Scholar. They abound in local allusions, and are a rich mine of information for the culture history of the country.

Second Period (1410-1620).—The Golden Age of Czech literature.

The reformer Jan Huss, who, by the religious movement which he inaugurated, contributed so powerfully toward the assertion of nationality by the Czechs, gave an immense impulse to the development of Czech literature, and 1410—the year of his open breach with Rome—is commonly considered the beginning of a new era. Though a master of the Latin tongue, Huss preferred Czech for works which were designed for the people as a whole, and the language received at his hands a perfection which it had never before attained. Since his time the Czech has undergone comparatively little change from a linguistic point of view. Huss adopted as the basis the speech in actual use around Prague. He contributed, moreover, to the development of the language by grammatical works like his Czech Orthography (published in 1857 by Šembera). After the death of Huss the Moravian Brethren assiduously cultivated the spirit of nationalism, and directed their energies to developing their native idiom. Among these champions of the people, the following names are the most noteworthy: Petr Chelčický (1390-1460), a pupil of Huss, was the theoretical expounder of his master's doctrines. In his works, such as The Net of Faith and Book of Expositions of Sunday Lessons, various religious and political questions are treated in a surprisingly liberal manner. Other writers of distinction of this period are Victorin Cornelius Všehrd (1460-1520), the author of Nine Books of Laws . . . in Bohemia, and Ctibor Cimburg (1437-94), who wrote the famous Tovačov Book—only two out of a long line of famous jurists, who devoted their time and labors to the scientific exposition and systematization of Bohemian law. Their works are written in masterly style, and contributed much to the progress of the Czech juridical language. These two, with several others, constituted the Hussite minority among the humanists who made their appearance in Bohemia with the Renaissance. The other, more numerous faction of the humanists, was, strange as it may seem, solidly opposed to the doctrines of Huss. Among these were Bohuslav of Lobkovic (1462-1510) and Řehoř Hrubý of Jelení (1450-1514). Lobkovic collected the most remarkable library of his time, wherein he was greatly helped by the introduction of printing in Bohemia in 1468, when the Trojan Chronicle, the first book to be printed in the Czech language, appeared at Pilsen. Lobkovic and his contemporaries laid all subsequent Bohemian literature under deep obligations. They translated Greek and Latin classics, as Cicero, Seneca, Isocrates; wrote Latin poems; compiled lexicographical works, like the Lexicon Symphonum, of the Czech, Greek, Latin, and German languages, by Siegmund Hrubý (1497-1554), son of Řehoř Hrubý. Grammatical studies of the Czech language were embodied in Jan Blahoslav's (1523-71) Czech Grammar (1571). It contains disquisitions on the subject of how to translate idiomatically various words, phrases, constructions, etc. Literary and scientific activity was at its height, and men of science, like Tycho de Brahe and Kepler, made Bohemia their home. The Bohemian historians of this period combined with their patriotic zeal a scientific preparation and seriousness of purpose which made their work especially valuable and reliable. They found their prototype in the anonymous Old Bohemian Annals, embracing the period of 1378-1527. Adam Veleslavin (1545-99), whose Historical Calendar is his best-known work, represents the highest type among these historians. Vaclav Hájek (?—1553) is the author of a Chronicle more interesting than accurate. Jan Blahoslav, who has been mentioned above, wrote an excellent history of the Moravian Brethren, of whom he was a bishop. He is also famous for his supervision of the Czech translation of the Bible from the original tongues, which is for the Czech what the King James Version of the Bible is for the English. Blahoslav did not live to see his work printed; it was published in six volumes in 1579-93, at the expense of Jan of Žerotin, a Moravian patron of letters, and is known as the Kralitz Bible. The unusual vigor displayed in the domain of prose and the widening of the intellectual horizon were naturally communicated to the field of poetry. Prince Hynek Poděbrad (1452-92) wrote his May Dream and other poems which won favor. Nicholas Dačicky (1555-1626) composed a satirical poem, Prostopravda, and many works of an historical character. Among the religious poets Jan (1500-72), a Moravian bishop, deserves special mention. The greatest poet of the latter part of this period, which is known as the ‘Golden Age,’ was Simon Lomnický (1552- after 1622). His works include didactic and satirical poems and sacred dramas. Chief among them are the satire Cupid's Arrow, for which the King, Rudolph II., ennobled him and granted him an annuity; and the didactic Short Precept for a Young Householder, which is full of valuable allusions to the manners and customs of the time.

Third Period (1620-1774).—In the battle at the White Mountain in 1620, the Bohemians lost their political independence, and Ferdinand I. of Austria, seven years later, made Catholicism the State religion of Bohemia. The works of the Protestant writers that had made the ‘Golden Age’ so brilliant were now seized everywhere and destroyed. Nevertheless, it was during the opening years of this period that Czech literature reached its highest stage of purity and finish in the works of Karl Žerotin and Jan Komenský. Karl Žerotin (1564-1636), great as are his polemical and historical writings, acquired a lasting fame through his enormous correspondence, in which he stands in the very first rank with the few famous letter-writers of the world. Jan Amos Komenský (see Comenius) (1592-1670), who became one of the greatest authorities on questions of pedagogy, spent his life in exile, like Karl Žerotin. His Magna Didactica; Janua Linguarum Reserata Aurea; and Informatorium, form his permanent contributions to the domain of pedagogy, philosophy, and religious controversy, and they advanced materially the stylistic standard of Czech literature. His purely literary work. Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart, is more important as a product of pure literature. All the other writers of this period are of little importance. The systematic efforts of the Hapsburgs to crush the Czechs were successful. Higher society became Germanized, the Czech language was heard only in out-of-the-way hamlets, and Czech books became a great rarity. The works of the Jesuit writers of the period, who employed the Czech language for religious propaganda among the masses—Sturm, Berlička, Steyer, and Koniaš—are full of barbarisms, monstrous forms and words. In 1774 Maria Theresa enforced by a decree the use of German in the intermediate schools as the language of instruction.

Fourth Period—Renaissance (1774 to the present day).—The forcible suppression of the native tongue in the common schools of Bohemia produced results entirely opposite to those which were expected, and met a vigorous protest. Count Kinsky published in German a plea for the Czech language under the title Erinnerung über einen hochwichtigen Gegenstand (1774), which was followed in 1775 by Balbin's Dissertatio Apologetica Linguæ Slovenicæ, published by Pelzel. Pelzel himself (1734-1801) was one of a number of young scholars who devoted themselves to the study of their native tongue and the history of their country. Thus appeared Fr. Thomsa's Böhmische Sprachlehre (1782) and K. I. Thám's Kurzgefasste böhmische Sprachlehre (1785), which laid the foundations for the study of the language. Pelzel's own contributions were: Typus Declinationum Linguæ Bohemicæ Novo Methodo Dispositarum (1793); Grundsätze der böhmischen Grammatik (1795) ; and especially his historical works, of which the New Bohemian Chronicle was chief. These latter works awakened interest in their own history among the Czechs. A chair of Czech language was established at Prague in 1793 (Pelzel). The greatest name of this period of Czech literature is that of Josef Dobrovský (1753-1829) (q.v.), the ‘patriarch of Slavic philology.’ In his works on grammar and literary history he gathered enormous lexical materials, and the historical and comparative method brought him to the discovery of the richness of the ancient classical language, to which his main interests were devoted. It is true that he made a Collection of Czech Proberbs in 1804, but all his works were written in German. Such men as Prochazka, Rulik, Puchmayer, Jan Nejedlý, V. Nejedlý, Hněvkovsky, and others wrote pamphlets for the instruction of the people, compiled dictionaries and grammars, translated the classics of European literature, published periodicals, composed plays for the theatre, and even poetry in the sentimental style of the idyls of Gessner. These attempts met with very serious obstacles, owing to the imperfect state of the language, which was practically the old language of the classical period, and which naturally lacked terms for new ideas and concepts that had come into vogue during the third period. The language was brought to its final state of perfection in the works of Jungmann (q.v.) (1773-1847), the most illustrious name of the early renascence. His translation of Paradise Lost (1811), an almost incredible tour de force, widened the horizon of poetical speech; his Czech Dictionary contained the vocabulary of the language; while his History of Czech Literature presented a complete survey of all the literary remains. He was particularly happy in coining new words, and whenever this expedient was found insufficient he borrowed from other Slavic languages, especially Russian and Polish. The four other names that are most closely linked with that of Jungmann as leaders of the renascence of Bohemia are Kollar, Šafařík Palacký, and Hanka. Kollar (q.v.) (1793-1852), poet and scholar, is famous for his Daughter of Slava (1824), one of the poetic masterpieces of the Czech language, and his numerous prose works, among which that On the Literary Reciprocity Between the Families and Dialects of the Slavic Nation (1831) advocated literary Panslavism (q.v.). Šafařik (1795-1861) was one of the greatest philologists the Slavic countries have produced. Among his works, his Slavic Antiquities (1837) and editions of many literary monuments have all been of importance. Palacký (1798-1876) is an historian, whose History of Bohemia (5 vols., 1836-67) is an ideal combination of critical judgment, profound erudition, and striking style. Along with them may be mentioned Hanka (1791-1861), who discovered the manuscripts of Grüneberg and Königinhof, and published a number of other important remains of Czech antiquities. The greatest poet of the period is František Ladislav Čelakovsky (1799-1852), whose Echoes of Russian and Czech songs, and the long poem The Rose of a Hundred Leaves, together with the poetic works of Kollar, were most responsible for the reawakening of the poetic spirit of the nation. Other names of importance are those of the lyric poets Jablonský and Vinařický, the epic writers Wocel, Marek, Hollý, and Erben, and dramatists like Klicpera and Tyl. Poetry seems to have absorbed all the best energies of the nation at that time, and the novel, which holds the chief place of honor in the literature of all other nations, did not reach any high level of development. Most works of fiction dealt with themes from Bohemian history. The most noted novelists are Chocholoušek, Tyl, and especially Božena Němcova (1820-62), whose themes are simple country life. The masterpiece of the latter, Babička (Grandmother), has been translated into English.

The reorganization of the Austrian Empire on a constitutional basis in 1860-61, which allowed the people of Bohemia scope in the development of political life, and the furtherance of national aspirations, marks the beginning of the modern period in Czech literature. The foundation of a new national theatre at Prague and the establishment of a Czech university by the side of the old university (1882) gave a great stimulus to literary activity. Little by little the narrow ‘national’ current gave way to cosmopolitanism, with Mácha as the leading representative of Byronism. The recognized head of the young generation is Viteslav Hálek (1835-74). The greatest living poet is Vrchlický (born 1853), whose A Year in the South; Pilgrimages to Eldorado; and the historical dramas Brothers and Drahomira, as well as translations from European classics, are specially noteworthy. Equal in popularity is the poet and novelist Svatopulk Čech, whose best-known work is Arabesky. Zeyer, Heyduk, Arbes, Vlček, and the ladies Eliška Krásnohorská (born 1847) and Karolína Světlá (born 1830) are the most popular novelists of the present day. Great activity has also been exhibited in the departments of science, philology, and literary history, the most important names being those of Jireček, Šembera, Gebauer, and Patera.

Bibliography. In Bohemian: J. Jungmann, Historie literatury české (Prague, 1825); K. Sabina. Dějepis literatury českoslovanské (Prague, 1863-66); J. Jireček, Rukovět k dějinám literatury české (Prague, 1874); A. Šembera, Dějiny řeči a literatury české (4th ed., Vienna, 1874); K. Tieftrunk, Historie literatury české (3d ed. Prague, 1885); Fr. Bayer, Stručné dějiny literatury české (Olmütz, 1879); Bačkovský, Zevrubné dějiny českého písemnictví doby nové (Prague, 1888). German: Pypin and Spasovich, Geschichte der slawischen Litteraturen, bd. 2, abt. 2 (Leipzig, 1884). English: Francis, Count Lützow, A History of Bohemian Literature (New York and London, 1899).