Basic facts about Czech

literature
Early literature
The earliest literary works written in Czech date to the 14th century
Bohemia was Christianized in the 9th century
The earliest written works associated with the Bohemia kingdom are Middle Latin works
The majority works from this period are chronicles and hagiographies.
Bohemian hagiographies focus on Bohemian saints. (Sts. Ludmila. Wenceslas, Procopius, Cyril and Mathodius,
Adalbert)
The most important chronicle are the Chronica Bohemorun(Bohemian Chronicle) by Cosmas and the Chronicle of
Dalimil
After the murder od Wenceslas III, the Bohemian nobles distanced themselves from German culture and looked for
literature in their native language
Prose was also developed during this period
Legends
Hussite revolution
The Hussite revolution created a break in the Czech literature
The main aim of this literature was to communicate and argue for a specicf religious
doctrine
The Czech religious songs replaced Latin hymns.
Jan Hus wrote about theological questions and created rules of ortography and
grammer
Baroque
Period after the Battle of the White Mountain
The largest personality is John Comenius, who spent his youth In Bohemia. He was
pedagogue, theologian and reformer of education. His works include grammars and
theoretical tracts on education
With his death, Protestant literature in the Czech language virtually disappeared
Catholic baroque writers: Adam Michna z Otradovic, Fridrich Bridel and Bohuslav
Balbín
National revival
Czech was on the defensive against German.
The culture movement strived to elevate Czech language, culture and art
Josef Dobrovský, who takes his place in history as one of the most important figure of the national revival.
He tried to resurrecting the Czech language, upholding the imporatnce of the past, ordinary life, and the beauty of folk
traditions in his work.
Josef Jungmann,who was noted for his translations and book History of Czech Literature
Božena Němcová wrote Babička and raised beauty and importance od Czech countryside.
The most significant poet was Jaromír Erben, who collected folk songs and tale. He published folksong collection Písně
národní. He was also an important editor of older Czech literature, including works of Hus and Štítný. His poetic
masterpiece was a collection of ballads Kytice
Jan Neruda wrote Tales of the Little Quarter, which register daily life in Prague. His love lyrics Večerní písně are still read
Karolína Světlá wrote about social inequalities of rural life. The main characters of hers works were independent female
Literature of 19th century
Czech poetry and prose were strongly influenced by artistic styles coming from European countries.
Realism:
Alois Jirásek wrote Old Bohemian Legends and Against Everyone, which were unique because of themes of
freedom and justice.
Karel Václal Rais, Karel Klostermann
Naturalism: Josef Karel Šlejhar
Symbolism: Otokar Březina
Impressionism: Antonín Sova
Decadence/anarchism: S. K. Neumann
Petr Bezruč was a social-critical poet. He styled himself as a coal miner and deplored the oppression of Czech
in his native Silesia
Golden age, Socialist Realism, Excile
works
These years between 1918 and 1938 were a golden age of Czech literature
Jaroslav Hašek wrote his classic war satire The Goog Soldier Švejk
Karel Čapek was a science fiction writer, who was nominated for a Nobel-prize in 1936. He coined the word
ROBOT in his play R.U.R.
Václav Havel was playwrigter, dissident and politician. Havel is remembered for his role in the downfall of
communism(Audience)
After the Second Wordl War, Czech came under the dictate of Marxist ideology and so-called socialist realism.
Many authors emigrated or published their works abroad
Bohumil Hrabal was an expressive and highy visual writer.He was the one of the best writers of 20th century
with books I Served the king of England, Closely Watched Trains
Ladisalv Fuks wrote mainly psychological novel, he was very affected by the occupation of Czechoslovakia.
His work reflects the despair and people suffer (The Cremator)
Normalisation
The literature was named because of the events of the 1968
Milan Kundera was Czech writer, who has lived in excile in France. Kundera's books
consider a variety of philosophical themes (The Unbearable Ligtness of Being and
Encounter)
Jaroslav Seifert was Nobel prize winning writer, poet and journalist (The Casting of
Bells)
Ota Pavel was autobiographical author whose work focused on sports.(How I Came
to Know Fish)