- Key People:
- Milan Kundera
- Václav Havel
- Karel Čapek
- Ivan Klíma
- Miroslav Holub
- Related Topics:
- literature
- Western literature
- Czech language
Czech literature
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What is Czech literature?
Czech literature has remote origins in vernacular writing linked to the mission to Moravia in 863 CE by Byzantine Emperor Michael III. Writing in Czech emerged in the late 13th century, with a continuous tradition of vernacular literature that included chivalrous romances, chronicles, legends, satires, and religious prose. The Kralice Bible was essential to preserving the Czech literary language during its suppression for two centuries until the Czech National Revival. After Czechoslovakia's independence in 1918, Czech literature flourished, but was later suppressed by the communist regime.
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What language is Czech literature written in?
Czech literature is primarily written in the Czech language, a West Slavic language closely related to Slovak and Polish. The earliest Czech texts emerged in the late 13th century, mainly hymns written at the courts of Bohemian kings. During the 14th and 15th centuries, various genres such as chivalrous romances, chronicles, legends, satires, and religious prose were written in Czech. A significant work that helped preserve the Czech literary language was the Kralice Bible, translated between 1579 and 1593. After 1918, Czech literature flourished, and writers like Karel Čapek and Jaroslav Hašek gained prominence.
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Who are some famous Czech authors?
Here are some famous Czech authors:
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Karel Čapek: A novelist, playwright, and essayist known for his satirical and idealistic plays, Čapek introduced the word "robot" in his play R.U.R.
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Jaroslav Hašek: Best known for his satirical novel The Good Soldier Schweik, Hašek mocked authority and reflected anti-military sentiments.
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Milan Kundera: Kundera's works combine erotic comedy, political criticism, and philosophical speculation. His notable works include The Joke and The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
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Bohumil Hrabal: Hrabal is known for his comic tales of eccentrics and misfits. His best-known work is the novel Closely Watched Trains.
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What are some important works in Czech literature?
Czech literature boasts a rich history with several important works. After Czechoslovakia's independence in 1918, Czech literature flourished, with Karel Čapek's satirical plays, such as R.U.R. (1920), which introduced the word "robot," and Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Schweik (1921–23) gaining prominence.
Romanticism influenced authors like Karel Hynek Mácha, whose lyrical epic, Máj (1836), is considered a high point of Czech poetry. Božena Němcová's Babička (1855) offered a realistic portrayal of country life and remains a favorite. After WWII, writers like Milan Kundera and Bohumil Hrabal gained international recognition, though many faced suppression under the communist regime.
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How did history influence Czech literature?
Czech literature's evolution has been deeply influenced by historical events. The mission of Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century introduced Slavonic writing, countering Frankish influence. The Hussite movement in the 15th century fostered Czech writing for polemical purposes. After the Austrian Habsburgs' victory in 1620, Czech was suppressed, but it survived through political exiles like John Amos Comenius.
The 19th-century Czech National Revival saw a resurgence of Czech language and literature, with figures like Josef Dobrovský and František Palacký contributing to its rediscovery and codification. The establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918 led to a flourishing of Czech literature, but the communist regime after World War II suppressed free literary activity. The Prague Spring in 1968 and the subsequent Soviet invasion led to the emigration and suppression of many writers, but after the democratic revolution in 1989, Czech literature experienced a resurgence.
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What themes are common in modern Czech literature?
Themes in modern Czech literature reflect the nation's turbulent history and include critiques of authority, the impact of mechanized society, and the struggle for ethnic identity.
After the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918, Czech literature flourished, but the communist regime after World War II suppressed free literary expression. Writers such as Milan Kundera and Josef Škvorecký faced censorship and exile, while others circulated their works underground.
Since the democratic revolution of 1989, Czech writers have continued to exert political influence, with playwright Václav Havel becoming the first post-communist president.
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Czech literature, the body of writing in the Czech language. Before 1918 there was no independent Czechoslovak state, and Bohemia and Moravia—the Czech-speaking regions that, with part of Silesia, now constitute the Czech Republic—were for a long time provinces of the Habsburg Holy Roman and Austrian empires. Because of this, the evolution of the Czechs’ literary language became historically linked to their efforts to maintain their ethnic identity.
Origins and development through the 17th century
The earliest origins of literature in Czech are connected with Old Church Slavonic, which was devised by Saints Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century to counter Frankish (German) influence. Latin was established as the liturgical language of the Bohemian state in 1097, however, and its script was adopted for what would become the Czech language. The earliest preserved texts in the Czech language, mainly hymns, were written in the late 13th century at the courts of the Přemyslid kings of Bohemia.
The 14th century brought a continuous stream of Czech literary works, mostly consisting of biographies of saints (hagiography), legends, epics and chronicles, and adaptations of chivalrous romances, all in verse. The earliest secular work in the language was the epic Alexandreis, a life of Alexander the Great based on a Latin poem by the French writer Gautier de Châtillon. From about 1350, prose genres began to be cultivated, initially descriptions of the lives of saints and chronicles and then versions of popular medieval tales. From the last part of the century dated a group of verse satires and didactic poems as well as the political allegory Nová rada (“The New Council”), written by Smil Flaška to defend the rights of the Bohemian nobility against the crown.
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Religious reforms begun by Jan Hus in the early 15th century set in motion the Hussite movement, which for two centuries pitted Czech reformers or Protestants against the Roman Catholic rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. The religious controversies and civil strife of this period fostered the use of Czech writing for practical and polemical purposes. Hus himself composed strong sermons in Czech and wrote various treatises, of which De ecclesia (“The Church”) was the most important. Petr Chelčický, one of his successors, wrote treatises containing radical social ideas from which sprang the Unitas Fratrum, or Bohemian Brethren, a sect and prototype of the Moravian church that became an important source of Czech literature for the next two centuries.
Czech literature in the 16th century was predominantly didactic and scholarly, reflecting the humanism of the European Renaissance. The Moravian bishop Jan Blahoslav completed an early translation of the New Testament, and the lexicographer Daniel Adam of Veleslavín further enriched the vocabulary of humanist Czech, but the most significant landmark of the period was the Unitas Fratrum scholars’ translation of the Bible into Czech, known as the Kralice Bible (1579–93). The language of this version became the model for classical Czech.
The Austrian Habsburgs defeated the Protestants of Bohemia in 1620, after which Protestantism was eradicated and Bohemia was brought under direct rule within the Austrian Habsburg domain. The (largely Protestant) Bohemian nobility was crushed and replaced by newcomers with little knowledge of Czech. Under the Habsburgs, the literary traditions of the past two centuries were proscribed, and it was only among political exiles that Czech literature survived at all. Among these exiles Jan Ámos Komenský (John Amos Comenius) was preeminent. His Latin works on education and theological problems and his works in Czech revealed him as a writer and thinker of European stature. His Labyrint světa a ráj srdce (1631; “Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart”) stands as one of Czech literature’s great achievements in prose.