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Karel Capek's Contribution to Czech National Literature

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Karel Capek's Contribution to Czech National Literature Karel Capek's Contribution to Czech National Literature B. R. BRADBROOK I National tendencies inevitably play a great part in all branches of the public life of a nation which had to struggle for centuries for its free- dom. In Czech art, such tendencies have been particularly stressed and discussed by many outstanding personalities of several generations. The harder the struggle, the more emotional their attitude tended to be. In his idealism, J. K. Tyl devoted all his energies to the idea of patriot- ism, only to be snubbed later by K. Havlicek for his passive, sentimental attitude. Havlicek's idealism, however, just as Tyl's, Némcová's and that of many others, with all its effectiveness, was none the less strong. They, too, chose to encourage the nation by their writings, in spite of their poverty and starvation. From the point of view of nationalism, innovators in literature and art were not always appreciated, at first. Byronic echoes in Mácha's poetry almost excluded his first works from Czech literature; Smetana was criticized for his "Wagnerianism", and Karel Capek earned for him- self the name of a "Chestertonian conservative" from the great critic, F. X. Salda.1 Was it because they refused to conform to the tradi- tional pattern of Czech culture which, in its narrow sense, excluded everything "foreign"? These limited tendencies, prevailing at the end of the last century, led almost to provincialism and lack of self-criticism; gradually this began to disturb Czech cultural leaders. T. G. Masaryk and other per- sonalities with a broad outlook pointed out our need to learn if we were to keep pace with the rest of the world. New ideas started streaming into the country, and books in translation appeared increasingly on the market; yet Karel Capek's first literary creations, published between 1 F. X. Salda, Kritické glosy k nové poesii ceské, [Collected Works of F. X. Salda], vol. 13 (Prague, 1939), p. 281. Karel Capek's Contribution to Czech Literature 1003 1916 and 1920, which might well have fitted into this new pattern, were accepted with no great applause. Among the writers concerned with the idea of nationalism in litera- ture, F. X. Salda made the most important contribution to the sub- ject. In addition to his essay, "Problem narodnosti v umeni",2 pub- lished in 1905, his whole work records the development of a solution to what was to become a burning problem for him. Salda himself was taught by Western literature and never failed to stress the impor- tance of our observing European criteria, should our culture carry any weight. Yet he detached himself from the poet Vrchlicky, whom he formerly admired, blaming him for marring the tradition of Czech verse by introducing too much influence. Can one wonder that when the brothers Capek somewhat eccentrically appeared on the literary scene, their first works, full of foreign elements, displeased the stern critic? He did his best to cool their enthusiasm, describing their Luminous Depths as "a preparatory book of school exercises and copied literary models",3 reproaching them for their debt to Neoromanticism and Neo- classicism. Ultimately, however, it was Karel Capek's pragmatism with which Salda remained unreconciled, in spite of his later, more favourable criticism of Capek's works. Like T. G. Masaryk, Salda, too, found the vague moral aspects of pragmatism unacceptable and, con- sequently, his approach to Karel Capek's work always contained a cer- tain amount of reserve. Unfavourable criticism from such an influential judge as F. X. Salda could easily extinguish the zeal of any young writer, who might thus be lost to literature; fortunately, this was not the case with Karel Capek, who remained himself uninfluenced by the sharp words of "the guard of the values", as M. Rutte called Salda.4 After all his preoccupation with the idea of the national writer, did Salda reach the point of being able to give a definition of such a writer? National art is to him "an open way to culture". "The first sign, even the essence and purpose, of a truly national art must be its positive value; that means it must not copy, repeating thus and multiplying weaknesses and shortcomings of the present day, but must increase and multiply national values. It must, let me put it in a nutshell, dramatize national virtues." 5 Alfred de Vigny's art is mentioned as a good example - "The Problem of Nationality in Art", Boje o zitrek (Prague, 1941), fifth edition. 3 Kriticke glosy k nove poesii ceske, p. 153. 4 Mohyly s vavrinem (Prague, 1939), p. 101. 5 Boje o zitrek, pp. 160-162. 1004 B. R. Bradbrook for this definition, as distinct from Beranger's, the banality of which only decreases the value of a national art. It is strange that Salda chose a French poet, rather than a Czech, to exemplify his idea of national greatness in literature, although there are several Czechs for whom he had a great admiration. Here, obviously, "national" and "world-famous" are fused in his thoughts. If he had spoken about music, perhaps the names of Smetana and Dvorak would have come instantly to his mind; literature, however, did not inspire him in this way. Karel Capek, who was as concerned as Salda with the problem of greatness and nationality in literature, suggested: If our literature is not so well-known and needed by the rest of the world as we would like it to be, it probably is not that our home conditions are too small, tight and inconvenient for the creation of a great and interesting literature, but rather that our literature is not sufficiently great, interesting, mature, sincere, and experienced to express fully and clearly the conditions of our Czech life and everything from the earth to the starry sky, which is contained in the Czech fate.8 This impartial statement, written in 1936, may have aroused the resent- ment of those who are ready to enumerate our great writers and express their well-deserved praise in opposition to Capek's argument. Knowing Capek's feelings towards his country, however, it cannot but be accepted as an expression of his wish to find the heart of the matter and rouse the Czechs from their inclination towards complacency about literature. It is true, of course, that great Czech writers created their works for their own nation, without concern for the world's opinion, and that they may not have had anything of particular importance to say to foreign readers; but why, then, should Smetana's characteristically Czech opera, The Bartered Bride, be one of the most popular all over the world? Capek comments on this point, too: Why has Dickens, this most typically English writer, become a world- renowned author? Why Gogol and the rest who wrote such specifically Russian literature, as only Russian can be? Why Hamsun, so Nordic, why Sinclair Lewis, so one-hundred per cent American, why so many others who expressed, spontaneously or deliberately, the spirit, character, types and life of their own country? I appreciate that the above-mentioned writers do not belong to the same spiritual class, but it is true of all of them that they did not write 'international' literature; on the contrary, they created works absolutely national, their own, and it did not prevent them from becoming world-famous.7 6 K. Capek, Poznamky o tvorbe (Prague, 1959), pp. 45-46. 7 Ibid., p. 45. Karel Capek's Contribution to Czech Literature 1005 Here Karel Capek and F. X. Salda were in agreement, in spite of their mutual coolness and Salda's occasional lack of understanding. If we are to weigh the merit of a nation's literature on the scales of its importance to all the world, we may conclude that perhaps the Czechs have little to offer, apart from Macha, Capek and Hasek, whose names are familiar to the world. But this presents a real discrep- ancy. Is Capek (or Hasek for that matter) a greater artist than Neruda or Bfezina? When we consider the high moral values which, according to Salda, should characterize national literature, even Neruda is re- buked: Neruda's tragic guilt - and here we must speak of a tragic guilt, for he was a great man - was that he did not distinguish quite clearly between national virtues and weaknesses, that he put shortcomings and trifles into poetry, making them charming and entertaining, instead of whipping them in right- eous indignation.8 In spite of Salda's tremendous contribution to Czech literary criticism, severity of this kind seems almost inhuman to a present-day reader, however one may appreciate its purpose. If Bfezina's merit was dif- ferent from Capek's, Neruda may be considered Capek's teacher, particularly in the "journalistic genres", where their sense of humour and human approach make their writings particularly attractive. Perhaps Capek's humanity escaped the stern critic: was it not, in fact, the human element in Smetana's and Capek's work which opened the frontiers of foreign countries to them? II One must remember that Salda was not the only one to criticize Capek, at first; yet, Capek's success at home and abroad would easily put him into the category of a "national writer" if this is understood in a more human sense than in Salda's conception. Where did Capek's appeal lie? With the London performances of R.U.R. and The Insect Play in 1923, Capek's fame was established. The English audience was so im- pressed that these two plays have ever since remained unsurpassed in popularity by any of Capek's later and greater works.
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