Jaroslav Josef Zmrhal

“ Viktor Dyk, Jan Hilbert and Jirásek whose Jan Hus and Jan Žižka z Trocnova, are truly great works, not to mention his poetic “Lucerna” and numerous other works. The dramatic art promises a magnificent future. The nation—persecuted, with its path to progress blocked by the Austrian Government, built at a great sacrifice, from individual gifts, a magnificent temple of drama and music, The Bohemian National Theatre which is not merely a place of amusement, but a fireside of culture, a source of the nation’s aspirations, a real life giver in the darkest hours of death and persecution. ”

“ Bohemian schools taken as a whole are fully up to the American standard, in fact are more efficient, as there are practically no illiterates in Bohemia or Moravia. But while the Bohemian public school gives the child good general education and equips it with a larger fund of knowledge than the child receives even in a good city school in America, the system over there emphasizes the three R’s too much at the expense of bringing out those traits of character that make for self-reliance, practical adaptability and success in life. ”

“ There is however, a group of writers of great interest who are particularly concerned with the soul of the Bohemian people. They are not heavy psychologists but the most skillful portrayers of the character and life of the common, suffering gêns. Neither do they stop at the surface, but dive deep into the national soul and bring up real gems, unsuspected in the rough shell in which they are hidden. Of these Josef Holeček is the first, often called the Bohemian Tolstoi, and indeed very much like him in his deep analysis of the soul of the common people. ”

“ But as soon as the first faint ray of religious freedom appeared on the blackened sky, the dead arose from the grave, the books that were thought all destroyed were taken out of their caches, Bibles appeared that hadpassed through fire, water, dough, and earth, the Labyrinth, the Praxis of Comenius came to light from places which even the fox-like ingenuity of the magistrates could never discover, and thousands returned to the faith and tongue of their fathers—there was a Great Resurrection. ”

“ The modern Bohemian Literature has finally gained its honorable place among the literatures of the world. Merely to enumerate the authors worth mentioning would take pages, not to mention their works. I shall have to limit myself only to the greatest: Svatopluk Čech, the most popular and beloved great poet of the Bohemians; next Jaroslav Vrchlický, the greatest master of Bohemian verse, exquisite, rich, dazzling; the most facile translator of world’s masterpieces; the most prolific poet of the Bohemian literature ”

“ Language in which lofty ideas are expressed is a language of a superior race. Literature rich in spiritual achievements is a literature of a nation of the future. This applies to Bohemia with particular significance since its literature had its great inspiration, its roots, so to speak, in that miracle of modern history—the Bohemian Reformation. ”

“ One noteworthy phase of Bohemian literature is the care with which the juvenile books are edited. Nothing seems to be good enough for the child. No wonder the new generations of Bohemians are such worshippers of the beautiful. We may say without hesitation, and without exaggeration that the Bohemian juvenile books have not their equal anywhere in the world, particularly in appearance. ”

“ The world-famous authorities on political science are Dr. Alvín, Bráf, Dr. Kaizl, and Dr. Karel Kramář, the last made famous during the war by the designs of the Austrian terror upon his life. Kramář suffered a most cruel martyrdom in the Austrian prisons, though he was during his whole life a most loyal Austrian who foresaw the calamity into which the Austrian government plunged following the leadership of Prussia whose victim she had become. ”

“ The Slovak poems, songs and romances are never translated into Bohemian, but are treasured and loved as they are, in the original Slovak, which makes them even dearer to he Bohemian heart.
The greatest woman writer is Teresa Nováková who portraysin a masterly way the soul of the people of eastern Bohemia, who are great mystics and profound thinkers. Beside her there is a long list of strong woman authors, e. ”

“ The climax of the sentimental, dreamy poetry is reached in the poems of Antonín Sova. His verse is extremely elastic and emotional, full of music and rythm. He fully aluates beauty Bohemian word, particularly in the cycle “The Lyrics of Love and Life”. His is the poetry of the national pride, and of the dreams of the future. ”