Šárka B. Hrbková

“ The Slovak language has been wonderfully developed since the time of Anton Bernolák but every means, every fiendish device has been used by the Magyars to utterly exterminate the race speaking it and to crush out completely all memory of the tongue hated so desperately by the Hungarians. ”

“ It can truly be said that the writers among the Czechs and Slovaks have been the teachers and saviours of their nation.
In no land has literature as such played a greater part in educating and developing national instinct and ideals. In countries untrammelled by the rigors of a stiff Austrian censorship of every spoken word, it is possible to train patriots in schools, auditoriums, churches. The confiscation of Czech newspapers for even a remote criticism of the Hapsburg government was a regular thing long before the exigencies of war made such a proceeding somewhat excusable. ”

“ One stands aghast at the mere linguistic knowledge necessary to comprehend the delicate intricacies of the poetic lore of the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, German, Polish, Magyar, Scandinavian and even Chinese without even speaking of his rare ability in presenting in beautiful Czech equivalent the spirit and content of the authors translated. He showed most conclusively the rich possibilities of his native tongue as a vehicle for the noblest of thoughts and technically for the transference of the most difficult rhymes and meters in modern European literature. ”

“ The Czechs had chafed under Austrian misrule since the fateful day when, in a period of Bohemia’s weakness, the Hapsburgs gained control of the little country which, geographically, forms the very heart of Europe and in many another way has been the organ which sent the blood pulsating freely and vigorously through the body of the Old World. The Slovaks have suffered even greater persecutions with no chance of redress from the Magyar (Hungarian) population which forms the southeastern portion of what was once the Dual Empire. ”

“ The literature of the nation of Czechoslovaks is as ancient as its history. For a period of over a thousand years, the literature of no nation is more closely entwined with its history than is that of the people composing the new Czechoslovak Republic. ”

“ It was no wonder, therefore, that the Czechs and Slovaks, enduring for ages the persecutions of German and Magyar, and in past periods knowing too well that they were but tools for Hapsburg ambition which forgot the promised reward of independence when its own selfish objects were attained, lined themselves to a man on the side of justice and democracy when the clarion call went round the world. ”

“ It is Svoboda, the short-story writer, who effectively gives a cross-section of life as he knows it in various fields. The realism evident in his initial collection of “Povídky” (Stories) , published almost as early as his first book of poems, holds his readers as strongly as his sketch “Probuzení” (The Awakening) , which probes the soul of a student to its depths. The author is not always concerned with the social, national or philosophical significance of a deed, but is often the teller of a story for the story’s own sake. ”

“ The Slovaks, most nearly allied in language and customs to the Czechs, occupy the fields and Carpathian mountains of northern Hungary. A splendid and ancient history is theirs though in latter centuries it has become one continuous record of bitter oppression suffered first at the hands of the Tatar invaders and then from the cruel Magyars of Hungary and of the always privileged Germans of the Hapsburg domain. Slovakia suffered the misfortune of being incorporated with Hungary in the tenth century and Magyarization has gone on relentlessly as a result. ”

“ In his “Czech Philosophy” Masaryk wrote in 1912 “Pure Humanity, signifying the only genuine brotherhood is the ideal of the Czech renaissance and represents, the national program as handed down from early generations of Czech leaders. The Czech ideal of humanity—the Czech ideal of Brotherhood must become the leading thought of all mankind.”—Thus, through great teachers a nation of earnest students has been trained to effectively carry out a great idea in the practical school of world politics and statesmanship.
Reading maketh a full man. ”

“ Just as faithful is he in giving the Czech and Slovak atmosphere as for instance in “Raduz a Mahulena,” a fairy tale of the Slovak region, “Neklan” and “Vyšehrad” of the pagan Czech period, “Duhový Pták” (The Rainbow Bird) a novel of modern Bohemia.
Jaroslav Vrchlický (Emil Frida) the most prolific and versatile writer of the nation, deserves to be named likewise its greatest cosmopolite. Thoroughly travelled and with deep knowledge of all ancient and modern civilizations to which he gives expression in his works, he fully deserves the title. ”

“ He uses the medium of verse to fling his challenge to wordy, but deedless, idealism among his compatriots, to proclaim rebellion against empty religion, the fruitless promises of politicians, the inanity of a so-called social system forever degrading the Magdalens and letting weeds spring up where roses should bloom. ”

“ A nation producing the quality of men who never forgot what they were striving for even though the struggle was centuries old arouses the interest of the thinking public. Whence came the strength of purpose of these representatives of so small a country? The Czechoslovak Republic comprises, with the combined areas of the former kingdom of Bohemia, margraviate of Moravia, duchy of Silesia and province of Slovakia but 50,000 square miles of territory and some 12,000,000 of people. ”

“ His “Kosmické Písně” (Cosmic Songs) are at times simple lyrics, again reverent national hymns with here and there the genuinely earnest longings of a great soul to humanize the mysteries of the universe and make its workings more intimate by an analogy between the fate of little nations and of great powers, as in the case of Bohemia and its military neighbors, and in comparing the tragedies and joys of our earthly life as individuals with the course of the planets.
Neruda’s “Ballady a Romance” (Ballads and Romances) is almost wholly devoted to his own nation and people. ”

“ It suffices that all maps of Europe will now bear the name of the free and independent government of Czechoslovakia—and that the united action of a thoroughly capable leader and a trained and intelligent nation achieved the consummation of the national aspirations of centuries. ”

“ When the Magyars or Hungarians, a Mongolian tribe, invaded Hungary, they spelled disaster to Slavic unity for, linguistically and racially, they were so different from the Czechs and Slovaks that they have ever been a scourge and a menace to those two Slavic peoples. ”

“ Almost immediately scientific and literary organizations and writers sprang up in Bohemia and among the Slovaks. The efforts of Joseph II. at centralization in the Hapsburg Empire by means of the exclusive use of the German without recognition of the language of the numerous linguistic groups composing the realm, led to political opposition. The voice of the newly awakened Czech nation refused to be hushed and the result was the re-establishment at the ancient Czech University of Prague of a chair of the Czech language and literature, by royal decree, on the 28th of October, 1791. ”

“ The cosmopolitanism of modern Czech literature is apparent in many prodigiously industrious writers not only active in their translations from foreign literatures but remarkable for their output of thoroughly good original matter—poems, novels, dramas and short stories. ”

“ Jan Neruda is usually classed with Vitězslav Hálek because they were the leaders of the enthusiastic literary men of the period—in the main, youths of twenty or thereabout who devoted every ounce of energy to their muse and their nation. They made the new literature reflect their own ideals of social equality, religious liberty, better advantages and fairer treatment of the laboring classes, emancipation of women, free self-expression. ”

“ The love of out-of-doors, due to his country birth and bringing up, breathes through each of Svoboda’s stories even when they concern themselves with the life of the effete and those whose interests are far from those of nature. Svoboda’s technical education in the substantial realities of every-day life prepared him for a position as official in the city bank in Prague, where he remained until 1911, but it did not crush out of him appreciation and love for all that nature gives so generously. ”

“ After Komenský, there were no great writers in the Czech language until the close of the eighteenth century. It must be remembered that every effort was made to suppress not only the language of the Czechs but to prevent the publication of any work in that tongue. ”

“ Practically all the common words in use in any of the languages belonging to the Indo-European family are fair illustrations of the strong relationship existing among the eight branches, and are proofs of an original or parent tongue known to nearly all of the now widely dispersed nations of Europe. ”

“ The popularization of history, philosophy, of all sciences and arts and knowledge occupied such men as Václav Matěj Kramerius, founder of numerous newspapers and other periodical publications; Antonín J. Puchmajer, writer of many lovely lyrics expressed in purest Czech; Antonín Bernolák, noted Slovak and advocate of a separatist policy who chose as the vehicle for his valuable discussions the West-Slovak dialect; Václav Thám, author of many popular dramas and other plays instrumental in awakening the national spirit. ”

“ Komenský’s most noteworthy contributions to the literature and culture of his people and of all nations include an elaborate Czech-Latin and Latin-Czech dictionary; a versified version of the Psalms in the Czech language; “Labyrint Světa a Ráj Srdce” (The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart) , published in 1681, the predecessor of Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” giving in exquisite form the struggles of man to attain perfect happiness and harmony of soul, the work being more distinctly pure literature in a technical sense than any of his other writings. ”

“ No review of Czech and Slovák literature could be counted complete if it omitted Thomas G. Masaryk. The man who to-day is president of the newly created Czechoslovak Republic has been a leader of thought in his native land for nearly two decades. Born March 7, 1850, in Hodonin, Moravia, of a Slovák father and Moravian “Hanák” mother, he had all the experiences incident to laboring families of insufficient means, before he finished the gymnasium in Brno and his philosophical studies at Vienna. ”

“ In no other equal space of time has a nation produced so many literary works of unquestioned merit. The revival of letters is complete. Standards are established but constantly advanced by the demand not only of critics but of the authors themselves and their very readers. ”

“ The first of the realistic writers of Bohemia was Božena Němcová, who stands unqualifiedly foremost among the women authors of her nation. Němcová spent her childhood in the foothill region of Ratibořice on the Silesian border, where is laid the scene of her best-known and most-loved novel of country life, “Babička" (The Grandmother) , which has gone into dozens of editions and has been translated into many different languages. ”

“ Machar spent his youth in Brandýs on the Elbe, which calm and lovely country he often describes in his poems and stories. After completing his course at the gymnasium in Prague and fulfilling his required military service he became, in 1891, a bank official in Vienna, where he lived until the outbreak of the world war, during the early period of which he was imprisoned on information furnished by the Austrian spy system, which asserted that a revolutionary, anti-Austrian poem of Machar’s had been published in a Czech paper in the United States. ”

“ Three branches of practical philosophy interested Masaryk chiefly: sociology, the philosophy of history and the philosophy of religion. To the period of study of these subjects belong his briefer psychological discussions: “Hypnotism” (1880) , “Blaise Pascal” (1883) , “A Theory of History According to the Principles of T. H. Buckle” (1884) , “Slavonic Studies” (1889) , “The Fundamentals of Concrete Logic” (1885) .
When the struggle to revive and renew Czech cultural life became the most critical, Masaryk presented a series of analytic studies of Bohemia’s literary and political revival. ”

“ THE SLAVS
So many people are under the impression that the Slavic tongues are wholly alien to the other languages of Europe that a brief statement of what groups constitute the Indo-European family of languages will not be amiss. This family includes eight main branches each of which has several sub-divisions. The first or Aryan includes the Indian and the Iranian and those in turn have sub-divisions which are represented by the Sanskrit, the Zend and the old and modern Persian. The second is the Armenian branch. ”

“ Among the newspaper men of Bohemia who have become prolific story writers is Jan Klecanda, who for a long period of years has been in the service of the Czech minority in the northern part of Bohemia where the German population has steadily increased through systematic efforts to dispossess the native Czechs. ”

“ The big human heart of Neruda never permits him to despise his types or individuals, be they ever so unworthy as far as virtue or strength of character is concerned. He tells the story of each with just a touch of mothersadness for the pathos of it all.
The story “He Was a Rascal” is, in considerable degree, autobiographical. His close knowledge of stage life through many years devoted to dramatic criticism is shown in the little sketch entitled “Beneš,” in which the grief of that character is for the real Sontagova who died of Mexican fever while on a tour of the western continent. ”

“ To these must be added an immense number of unparalleled translations from the literatures of practically all cultured nations, ancient and modern, and then only can a fair conception be had of the marvellous labors and the unequalled significance to Czech literature of this indefatigable individual, who has created more real literature than is contributed ordinarily by an entire generation of writers. ”