The Czech renascence of the nineteenth century : essays presented to Otakar Odložilík in honour of his seventieth birthday

Literature and historical writing among the Czechs, as among many other nations lacking a political state, played a vital role in promoting national consciousness. This volume, written to honour the seventieth birthday of the eminent Czech historian Otakar Odložík, contains essays by outstanding scholars from Canada, Czechoslovakia, Britain, and the United States which examine significant episodes in the development of modern Czech nationalism from its origins in the late eighteenth century to the birth of an independent nation after the First World War. The main emphasis is on the middle decades of the nineteenth century, which were crucial for mapping the direction Czech nationalism was to take during the subsequent hundred years. The stand of the Czech and Slovak peoples in the crisis of August 1968 reflected the deep roots of their patriotism which developed during the nineteenth-century national renascence. This volume contains essays on Dobrovský, the pioneer of Czech language studies, and on Palacký, the author of the first great national history, as well as on other facets of literary history which have influenced national feeling. A Prague scholar investigates the social structure of the early Czech patriotic intelligentsia and reaches conclusions which considerably modify hitherto existing views. Two contributions examine the role of the press in the emergence of Czech nationalism; the Matice Ceskà, a leading patriotic literary foundation, is the subject of one of the studies. Slovak and Lusatian Serb, German, and American reaction to the Czech national renascence is examined in a series of chapters. The political expression of Czech nationalism, first during the Year of Revolutions, 1848, and then from the late 1870s until the early years of the twentieth century, is subjected to analysis in several studies. Finally, there is a brief review of the problems associated with the Czech-Slovak background of Tomáš Masaryk, the creator of modern Czechoslovakia. A fitting tribute to an outstanding scholar, this volume makes an important contribution to the literature in English on nineteenth-century Czech lands.

Literature and historical writing among the Czechs, as among many other nations lacking a political state, played a vital role in promoting national consciousness. This volume, written to honour the seventieth birthday of the eminent Czech historian Otakar Odložík, contains essays by outstanding scholars from Canada, Czechoslovakia, Britain, and the United States which examine significant episodes in the development of modern Czech nationalism from its origins in the late eighteenth century to the birth of an independent nation after the First World War. The main emphasis is on the middle decades of the nineteenth century, which were crucial for mapping the direction Czech nationalism was to take during the subsequent hundred years. The stand of the Czech and Slovak peoples in the crisis of August 1968 reflected the deep roots of their patriotism which developed during the nineteenth-century national renascence.

This volume contains essays on Dobrovský, the pioneer of Czech language studies, and on Palacký, the author of the first great national history, as well as on other facets of literary history which have influenced national feeling. A Prague scholar investigates the social structure of the early Czech patriotic intelligentsia and reaches conclusions which considerably modify hitherto existing views. Two contributions examine the role of the press in the emergence of Czech nationalism; the Matice Ceskà, a leading patriotic literary foundation, is the subject of one of the studies. Slovak and Lusatian Serb, German, and American reaction to the Czech national renascence is examined in a series of chapters. The political expression of Czech nationalism, first during the Year of Revolutions, 1848, and then from the late 1870s until the early years of the twentieth century, is subjected to analysis in several studies. Finally, there is a brief review of the problems associated with the Czech-Slovak background of Tomáš Masaryk, the creator of modern Czechoslovakia.

A fitting tribute to an outstanding scholar, this volume makes an important contribution to the literature in English on nineteenth-century Czech lands.

Preface 5 Contents 8 Contributors 11 1. The Periodization of Czech Literary History, 1774-1879 13 2. Changing Views on the Role of Dobrovský in the Czech National Revival 26 3. Locus Amoenus: An Aspect of National Tradition 38 4. The Social Composition of the Czech Patriots in Bohemia, 1827-1848 45 5. The Matice Česká, 1831-1861: The First Thirty Years of a Literary Foundation 65 6. Jan Ernst Smoler and the Czech and Slovak Awakeners: A Study in Slav Reciprocity 86 7. Metternich's Censors: The Case of Palacký 107 8. Karel Havlíček and the Czech Press before 1848 125 9. The "Czechoslovak" Question on the Eve of the 1848 Revolution 143 10. German Liberalism and the Czech Renascence: Ignaz Kuranda, Die Grenzboten, and Developments in Bohemia, 1845-1849 158 11. The Preparatory Committee of the Slav Congress, April-May 1848 188 12. The Czechs and the Imperial Parliament in 1848-1849 214 13. America and the Beginnings of Modern Czech Political Thought 227 14. The Hussite Movement in the Historiography of the Czech Awakening 236 15. Masaryk's National Background 251 16. The Politics of the Czech Eighties 266 17. Kramář, Kaizl, and the Hegemony of the Young Czech Party, 1891-1901 294 Selected Bibliography of the Publications of Otakar Odložilík 327 Index 339