KOSMAS 25.1 Spring 2011
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N° 25.1 by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) KOSMAS ISSN 1056-005X © 2011 by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) Kosmas: Czechoslovak and Central European Journal (Formerly Kosmas: Journal of Czechoslovak and Central European Studies, Vols. 1-7, 1982-88, and Czechoslovak and Central European Journal, Vols. 8-11, 1989-93). Kosmas is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal that focuses on Czech, Slovak, and Central European Studies. It is published bi-annually by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU). Editor: Clinton Machann (Texas A&M University) Managing Editor: David Z. Chroust (Texas A&M University) Book Review Editor: Mary Hrabík Šámal (Oakland University) Assistant Editor: Sofia C. Prado (Texas A&M University) Design Advisor: Roger H. Kolar (Cotera, Kolar & Negrete Architects) Editorial Board: Ivo Budil (University of West Bohemia), Zdenk V. David (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), Peter Demetz (Yale University), L’ubomír u- rovič (Lunds Universitet, Sweden), David R. Holeton (Charles University, Prague), H. Alan Houtchens (Texas A&M University), Jeremy Iggers (University of St. Thomas), Wilma Abeles Iggers (Canisius College), Owen Johnson (Indiana University), Daniel Miller (University of West Florida), Jaroslav Opat (T. G. Masaryk Institute, AV, Prague, Czech Republic), Leopold Pospisil (Yale University), Mojmír Povolný (Lawrence University), Francis D. Raška (Charles University, Prague) Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr. (Rockville, Mary- land), Charles Townsend (Princeton University), Antonie van den Beld (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands), Bronislava Volková (Indiana University), Sharon Wolcik (George Washington University). The editors assume no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by contributors. Subscription orders and inquiries and address changes should be sent to Frank Safertal, Subscriptions Editor, at 5529 Whitley Park Terrace, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA Tel: 301- 564-9081 Fax: 301-564-9069, E-mail address: <[email protected]>. Checks should be made out to “SVU.” In the US and Canada, an individual one-year subscription to Kosmas is $32.00 ($27.00 for current members of the SVU, $43.00 for libraries and other institu- tions). In Europe, the rates are $37.00 ($32.00 for SVU members, $48.00 for institutions). For other international subscribers, the rates are $37.00, $32.00, and $48.00, respectively. Manuscript submissions, books for review, and correspondence concerning editorial matters should be sent to Clinton Machann, Editor, Kosmas, Department of English, 4227 TAMU, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4227, USA. E-mail address: <c- machann @tamu.edu>. Fax: 979-862-2292. Requirements and stylistic guidelines for manu- script submissions are given on the inside back cover. Please send manuscripts for book reviews or suggestions for books to be reviewed to Mary Hrabík Šámal, Book Review Edi- tor, Kosmas, 2130 Babcock, Troy, MI 48084. E-mail address: <[email protected]>. Kosmas website: http://www-english.tamu.edu/pubs/kosmas Printed by Tops Printing, 2023 S. Texas Avenue, Bryan, TX 77802 CONTENTS Editor’s Notes By Clinton Machann iii ARTICLES Creating an Alternative Rhetoric Through Theatre During the Height of Authoritarian Control in Communist Czechoslovakia By Todd Ruecker 1 Václav Myslivec, A Man Between Christian Socialism, Christian Democ- racy, and Catholic Conservatism: An Outline of a Political Biography By Pavel Marek 18 Philip Roth's and Josef Škvorecký's Alter Ego in Igor Hájek's Compara- tive Perspective By Karolina Slamová 45 Josef Šnabl, Ondřej Ludvík and the Artistic Company of 1920: Journeys of Life, Musical Performance and Research By Michael Cwach 62 Ferdinand Peroutka’s Exile Activities and His Loyalty to The United States By Francis D. Raška 82 ESSAYS The Riches of Diminutives and Augmentatives in Czech By Zdeněk Salzmann 92 Jan Kollár in the Context of Panslavic Discourse 1830-1848 By Jelena Milojković-Djurić 98 Karel Teige and Modern Typography By Eric Dluhosch 108 The Narrative Aspect of History: A Case Study of Texas Moravians By Joseph N. Rostinsky and Kenji Hotta 136 i KOSMAS: Czechoslovak and Central European Journal Destinies of Two WW2 Czechoslovak Soldiers By Jan Klinka 143 PERSONAL MEMOIR My Life Story By Herbert Löwit 163 BOOK REVIEWS Bohumil Hrabal. Vita Nuova. Trans. by Tony Liman. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-8101-2546-9. By Tracy A. Burns 169 Patrick Crowhurst. Germany and Czechoslovakia 1938-1947: Domination, Exploitation and Revenge. Loughborough, England: Self-Published, 2010. 292 pp. By Zdeněk V. David 174 Cosmas of Prague: The Chronicle of the Czechs. Trans. by Lisa Wolverton. Washington, D. C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-8132-1570-9. 274 pp. By Marcela K. Perett 176 The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968: Forty Years Later. Ed. and comp. by M. Mark Stolarik. Mudelein: Bol- chazy-Cardocci, 2010. 310 pp. ISBN 978-0-86516-751-3 and ISBN 978-0- 86516-757-5. By James W. Peterson 179 Up the Devil’s Back: A Bilingual Anthology of 20th-Century Czech Poetry. Bronislava Volková and Clarice Cloutier, eds. and trans. Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2008. xvi. 470 pp. ISBN 978-0-89357-362-1. By Zdeněk Salzmann 182 Francis D. Raška. Fighting Communism from Afar: The Council of Free Czechoslovakia. Boulder: East European Monographs, 2008. 209 pp. IBSN: 978-88033-626-0. By Mary Hrabík Šámal 184 CONTRIBUTORS 186 ADVICE TO CONTRIBUTORS 189 ii Editor’s Notes This issue incorporates scholarship on a variety of topics related to Czech, Slovak, and Czechoslovak history and cultural studies. In some cases the critical approach or point of view taken by the author is of special interest as well. For example, in the first article Todd Ruecker, as he analyzes the “alternative rhetoric” of those associated with the experimental project Bilé Divadlo (White Theater) during the period 1970-76 in Czechoslovakia, ac- knowledges our continuing need for “a plurality of rhetorics.” Pavel Marek’s study of Václav Myslivec is the first of several articles and essays that focus on biographical (and autobiographical) topics. Myslivec was a leading Czech figure in the Christian-Democratic movement of the later 1800s and early 1900s who, according to Marek, has not yet been adequately studied by historians. Many of our readers will surely agree that a scholarly biography of Myslivec would help us to better understand the complex political and religious movements in which he played a part. With Karolina Slámová’s article on Igor Hájek we move to literary issues, and in addition to readers with a specific interest in this important Czech author, those with a broad interest in a comparative approach to litera- ture will find much to ponder in her links between Hájek and Philip Roth, Josef Škvorecký, and other writers. In particular, Slámová’s claim that Hájek “helped Czech books to find their way to new audiences” should resonate with readers. Michael Cwach has had a longstanding interest in Czech bagpipers, and his personal commitment to research in this area of the Czech folk music tradition is obvious in his account of Josef Šnabl, Ondřej Ludvík, and other performers in their 1920 American tour. I hope that any readers of this article who may have access to additional information about this remarkable Czech- American connection will make contact with the author. Czech-American con- nections in another (in this case, political) context are explored by Francis D. Raška in his study of Ferdinand Peroutka and his associations with Radio Free Europe and the Council of Free Czechoslovakia. Sadly, this Czech exile “never felt at home in America.” Many readers will recognize essayists in this issue as previous con- tributors to Kosmas. I suspect that Zdenk Salzmann’s essay on “diminutives and augmentatives in Czech” will find its way to various classrooms in which the language is taught. Readers with a special interest in the development of Slavic national movements and a Panslavic consciousness in the 1830s and 1840s will no doubt appreciate Jelena Milojković-Djurić’s essay on the vision- ary Slovak scholar Jan Kollár. Eric Dluhosch’s essay on Karel Teige, which began as a book review, offers readers reproductions of illustrations from Karel Teige and Typography by Karel Srp, Polana Bregantová, and Lenka By- džovská, along with a commentary that will surely encourage interest in this important new book. Joseph N. Rostinsky and Kenji Hotta’s essay on Estelle Hudson and Henry R. Maresh’s Czech Pioneers of the Southwest (1934) is of special interest to me personally because this “classic” historical work is one iii KOSMAS: Czechoslovak and Central European Journal that has a special status among Texans of Czech heritage, and I look forward to sharing this essay with old friends and relatives. Jan Klinka’s essay on Robert Matula and Alois Vyhnák, two Czecho- slovak paratroopers in World War II who ended up in Canada, and the personal memoir of Herbert Löwit, who also served in the war, are both powerful re- minders of the complex history surrounding the Second World War, and I know that some readers will be reminded of other life stories as well. In addition to Dluhosch’s essay on the Karel Teige book, we have included reviews of several important new books, and readers who are familiar with our journal will recognize names among the reviewers: Tracy A. Burns, Zdenk V. David, Marcella K. Perett, James W. Peterson, Zdenk Salzmann, and Mary Hrabík Šámal (our Book Review Editor). Given the name of our journal, it is appropriate that among the books reviewed is a recent translation of The Twelve Century Latin Chronicle of the Czechs by Cosmas of Prague. I am grateful for the valuable work of Assistant Editor Sofia Prado and Managing Editor David Z. Chroust in preparing this issue for publication, and I also want to thank Christina Wall, a doctoral candidate in German Cul- tural Studies at the University of Maryland, for assisting us in the editing proc- ess.