A History of Bohemian Literature

by hrabe Francis Lützow

With the exception of a short German biography of Dobrovský, most of Palacký's minor works are connected with his great History; some are the results of studies preparatory to the great work; others contain documentary evidence in support of statements made in the book; in others again, Palacký enters into controversies with some of the critics of his work. I shall mention some of the most important of these works. In the year 1829 the Bohemian Society of Sciences offered a prize for the best essay on the early historians of Bohemia. Palacký won this prize with his first historical work, entitled Würdigung der alten Böhmischen Geschichtschreiber. The book was written in German, and was first published in the Journal of the Bohemian Museum, that then appeared in German as well as in Bohemian. In 1830 it was republished separately in an enlarged form. The book gives short and concise sketches of the lives of the Bohemian historians from Cosmas to Hajek. It is still of value, and indispensable to all who study the works of these historians. Like this book, closely connected with Palacký's principal work, is a short historical sketch entitled Die Vorläufer des Hussitanthums ("The Precursors of Hussitism"). The fate of this little book is rather curious. In 1842 Palacký read a paper on "The Precursors of Hus" before the Bohemian Society of Sciences. Wishing to publish its contents, he, as in duty bound, submitted the MS. to the censure-office. The officials there, however, entirely declined to give their consent to the publication of the book. A copy of the MS. came into the hands of Dr. Jordan of Leipzig, who in 1846 published it there under his own name. This was done with the consent of Palacký, who was more desirous that the fruits of his research should become public than that he should obtain personal recognition. The book has since been reprinted under the name of the real author, and still has great value. I have availed myself of its contents when writing of the precursors of Hus In chapter ii. of this book.

It is not surprising, if we consider the previous general ignorance on the subject of Bohemian history, that from the moment his book began to appear Palacký became the object of violent attacks. The first attacks proceeded from German writers, but after the publication of the volume that deals with Hus, other Catholic writers also joined in these attacks. The treatment which the Slavs of Northern Germany, and sometimes those of Bohemia also have endured on the part of the Germans, could only be defended by describing these tribes as brutal, savage, and cruel barbarians. Palacký has certainly proved that these descriptions, founded on vague statements of German monks or on the mendacious Hajek, are at least grossly exaggerated. Palacký's impartial account of the career of Hus, who had in Austria previously been described in accordance with the words of the censor, which I have quoted, displeased the more prejudiced Roman Catholics, Professor Höfler, who was both a fanatical Teuton and a bigoted Roman Catholic, was the most persistent opponent of Palacký. Palacký replied to his criticism in his Geschichte des Hussitanthums und Professor Höfler which appeared in 1868. Mainly polemical also was Palacký's small work, Zur Böhmischen Geschichtschreibung, published in 1871. In this book the author defends his historical work against the attacks of Professor Höfler and other German critics. He gives here also an account of his old controversies with the censure-office, from which I have quoted.

Several collections of documents are also due to the diligence of Palacký. In 1860 he published a collection of—mostly Latin—documents referring to the reign of King George of Poděbrad. A similar but far more interesting collection of Latin and Bohemian documents was published in 1869. I have in chapter iii. frequently quoted this collection, on which, indeed, my account of the career of Hus is principally based. The Latin documents are printed in that language only, but Palacký has given a Latin translation of those that were written in Bohemian. An additional collection of documents, published in 1873, refers to the period of the Hussite wars. In the last years of his life Palacký published in three volumes a selection of the most important historical, political, and literary essays which he had written in Bohemian. This is by no means a complete list of Palacký's works. In the "question of the MS." he, as already mentioned, figured as a defender of the authenticity of these documents.

It is to the four writers whom I have now successively referred to that the revival of the Bohemian language and of Bohemian literature is principally due. They were the centre of a group of writers who, if less talented, were no less patriotic and enthusiastic. The isolated position in which they were at first placed, surrounded by Germans or Germanised Bohemians, and living under an absolute Government, that always treated them with suspicion and often with positive enmity, caused these men to draw closely together; many of them were indeed on terms of intimate friendship. The vast amount of correspondence that passed between them, to which I have already referred, is now gradually being published. It is characteristic of these writers that they rarely limited their labours to one subject, but generally wrote both in poetry and in prose, and on the most varied subjects. Their patriotic motive was the wish to prove that the new, or rather revived, literature possessed works on all subjects and in every literary form. That this sometimes led to superficiality and mediocrity cannot be denied.

Wenceslas Hanka (1791-1861) has already been mentioned in these pages as the discoverer of the MS. of Königinhof, and it is as such that he is principally known. He is, however, the author of a collection of Bohemian songs that soon became very popular, and of several works on Bohemian grammar and etymology. He also published numerous translations from the German and from the Slav languages, and edited Hus's Deerka and Dalimil's Chronicle, which were then almost unknown.

A better poet than Hanka was his contemporary Ladislav Čelakovský. The best of his many poetical works are two collections of national songs entitled respectively Echoes of Russian Song and Echoes of Bohemian Song. These books, contrary to what the title would lead one to infer, are mainly original, though Čelakovský has made thorough use of his knowledge of the legends and traditions of the Slav peasantry. Another collection of poetry is entitled The Hundred-Leaved Rose. As in Kollar's Daughter of Sláva, the love motive struggles with the patriotic motive for supremacy in this poem—not perhaps to its advantage. We possess prose works also of Čelakovský dealing with the Bohemian language. That subject was ever before the minds of the Bohemian writers of the earlier half of this century, of whom Čelakovský is one of the most correct.

It is beyond the purpose of this book to give a complete list of the modern "minor poets" of Bohemia. I may mention as among the best, Macha, who imitated Byron, Jungmann's friend Marek, Halek, Koubek, and Rubes. The last-named is the author of a song entitled Ja jsem Čech a kdo je vic? ("I am a Bohemian, and who is more?"), which is still very popular in Bohemia. The drama has only been greatly cultivated in Bohemia within the last twenty years, particularly since the establishment of the large Bohemian theatre at Prague. At present Bohemia possesses a considerable number of dramatic authors. Of older dramatists we must first mention Joseph Tyl (1808-1856), the author of very numerous dramatic works. In one of these Tyl introduced a song beginning with the words Kde je domov muj? ("Where is my home?"). This song rapidly became very popular, and can now almost be considered as the national air of Bohemia. Wenceslas Klicpera (1792-1859) wrote over fifty comedies and tragedies, and, though none of his plays are above mediocrity, contributed considerably to the development of the Bohemian stage, which then possessed hardly any dramatic works. Of novelists belonging to the early period of the revival of Bohemian literature, we should mention Mrs. Božena Němcova, who was born in 1820 and died in 1862. Her novels, which deal mainly with the simple life of the Bohemian villagers, have obtained a well-deserved popularity. Mrs. Němcova's masterpiece, the Babička ("Grandmother"), has been translated into English, French, Russian, German, and many other languages. A very talented writer of historical novels was Wenceslas Beneš Třebizky (1849-1884).

Two gifted sisters, whose work was of great assistance to the development of Bohemian literature, also deserve mention. I refer to the sisters Rott, who belong to a period somewhat later than Mrs. Němcova. The elder sister assumed the pseudonym of Karolina Světla (1830-1893), and is the author of many interesting novels, of which Križ u potoka ("The Cross by the Stream") obtained the greatest success. Sophia Rott—afterwards Mrs. Podlipská—(1833-1897) produced a cycle of historical novels that have great interest, though they are not devoid of anachronisms.

Of writers on scientific subjects, one of the earliest was John Presl (1791-1849). Presl was Professor of Natural History at the University of Prague, and the first modern Bohemian works on this subject are due to him. The patriots, as already mentioned, wished to prove that all subjects could be treated in the national language. Presl is the originator of the present system of Bohemian phraseology as regards the subjects on which he wrote, and he has therefore well deserved the gratitude of the Bohemian people. It is of him and of Marek that the story is told that, when they were visiting Jungmann to discuss the future of Bohemian literature, the latter remarked to his visitors: "It needs only that the ceiling of this room should fall in, and there will be an end of Bohemian literature!"

Great also are the services to the Bohemian cause of Charles Jaromir Erben; born in 1811, he died in 1870 as archivist of the town of Prague. Erben's works, like those of many Bohemian writers of his time, deal with various subjects. It is really only the establishment of the national university which has made it possible for us to have specialists in all branches of science at the present day. Erben published several collections of Bohemian popular poetry and various interesting works on the folklore of his country. We have to thank him also for an edition of selected works of Ilus, which has value until the definitive edition of the works of the Bohemian martyr is completed. The works of Hus, particularly those written in the Bohemian language, were formerly almost inaccessible. Erben also edited Štitný's books on General Christian Matters, Harant of Polžic's Travels, the Chronicles of Bartoš, the writer, and many minor works. These editions have valuable notes and biographies of the ancient writers, which I have frequently used in the earlier parts of this work.