Robert B. Pynsent. Questions of Identity: Czech and Slovak Ideas of Nationality and Personality. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ix + 244 pp. $49.95, cloth, ISBN 978-1-85866-005-9.

Reviewed by Robert N. Stacy

Published on HABSBURG (December, 1996)

Perhaps the aspect of Central European life The frst chapter, "Introduction: Questions of that has become most visible to the West is the Identity and Responsibility in Vaclav Havel," cen‐ emergence (or reemergence) of nationalities. Dif‐ ters on Havel's concern with individual identity ferences between Czechs and Slovaks, while not and responsibility. Although Havel's emphasis in as extreme as those in other parts of Central Eu‐ his plays and essays is on the individual, it is on rope, were signifcant and, in the end, irreconcil‐ the individual living in a twentieth-century totali‐ able. A comprehensive examination of the Czech tarian state, an environment not peculiar to and Slovak nations, their characteristics, why they Czechoslovakia but nonetheless a very Czech ex‐ separated and, perhaps, how Czechoslovakia perience. Havel's primary interest is in the indi‐ managed to contain them for so long would be vidual in a moral and spiritual sense, and not as a welcome. member of a specifc nationality. Pynsent notes Although Robert B. Pynsent's Questions of that Havel considers being a Czech to be only a Identity: Czech and Slovak Ideas of Nationality layer of his total identity and that nationalism and Personality provides some insights into the was not a signifcant issue with him until he was background of these issues, it does not describe or confronted by Slovak nationalism in 1990 (pp. analyze them in depth. What the book does ofer 2-3). is a collection of four essays organized as chap‐ Chapter 2, "The Myth of Slavness: Pavel Josef ters, three of which explore concepts of individual Safarik and Jan Kollar," describes the eforts and and national identity as articulated by Czechs or assesses the signifcance of these two early-nine‐ Slovaks. One chapter concentrates on Decadent teenth-century Slovak intellectuals who together, writers and the idea of the Decadent Self rather in Pynsent's words, "created a complex new myth than directly on Czech or Slovak literature or as‐ of Slav nationalist deliverance" and went on to de‐ pects of identity. fne a more specifcally Slovak identity. Safarik (1795-1861) was primarily an editor and universi‐ H-Net Reviews ty teacher who spent most of his career in Prague; The last third of the chapter addresses the Kollar (1793-1852) was less of a formal scholar question of Czech martyrs. It begins with a com‐ and more of a writer of poems and other works. ment made by Tamas Masaryk, frst president of Pynsent describes their defnition of Slavic Reci‐ Czechoslovakia, in his 1895 work Ceska Otazka procity, a concept of Slavic identity and national‐ (The Czech Question) drawing attention to the ism based on character traits, language, and geog‐ Czech "predisposition to martyrdom and to the raphy, though it was in no sense to be a political veneration of martyrs" (p. 190). Pynsent performs union. He explains their work in the context of his analysis by briefy discussing several Czech contemporary intellectuals such as Herder who martyrs (both real and perceived), identifying were also defning nationalism. them, describing what they were best known for, Chapter 3, "The Decadent Self," examines the and assessing their infuence and how they have Decadents, their view of the world, and their been viewed at various periods. work. Most of this chapter is based on the origina‐ The martyrs he has chosen are drawn from tion and development of the idea of the Decadent various eras of Czech history up to recent years. Self in central Europe through an assessment of First is St. Wenceslas, subject of the famous statue the work of two mid-nineteenth-century individu‐ at the top of Wenceslas Square in Prague, a Bo‐ als: the German philosopher Max Stirner and the hemian king of the early tenth century, murdered Swiss diarist Henri-Frederic Amiel. This chapter is by his brother Boleslav. Pynsent includes the Bo‐ not directly relevant to any consideration of hemian reformer Jan Hus, burned at the stake for Czech and Slovak nationalism, but does describe heresy in 1415; and St. Jan Nepomuk, allegedly ex‐ the infuence of the Decadents on Central Euro‐ ecuted in 1393 for refusing to reveal the secrets of pean (and thus part of Czech and Slovak) litera‐ the confessional but more likely as the result of a ture in the early part of this century. dispute between King Wenceslas IV and the Chapter 4, "Czech Self-Defnition through Church. Martyrs," is really two separate discussions. The Twentieth-century martyr fgures include frst compares Czech and Slovak concepts of na‐ Colonel Josef Svec of the Czechoslovak Legion that tionality using Anthony Smith's four-stage model fought with the pre-Revolutionary Russian Army for the creation of nations (p. 156): tribal coales‐ against Austria-Hungary. Svec committed suicide cence, ethnic consolidation, division/decline, be‐ in 1918 when it became obvious that the Allies coming a modern nation. This comparison and had lost interest in his unit and his men refused to discussion, which contains substantially more ma‐ obey his orders. Julius Fucik, a Communist jour‐ terial on the Czechs, is the strongest and most re‐ nalist executed by the Nazis in 1943, and author warding portion of the book. Pynsent covers fa‐ of Report from the Gallows, was a martyr fgure miliar ground in his summary descriptions of around whom the Communists established a cult. Czech and Slovak history. What is most valuable is Finally, Pynsent discusses Jan Palach, who set his discussion of how signifcant personalities and himself afre in January 1969 in Wenceslas Square events were interpreted and evaluated by the to protest the Soviet occupation and subsequently nineteenth-century Czech historians Frantisek died of his injuries. Palacky and Josef Pekar and the twentieth-centu‐ The main value of Questions of Identity lies in ry Czech philosopher, Jan Patocka. Pynsent is par‐ its highly focused discussions of separate topics of ticularly good at showing how an idea originates individual and national identity and how they and evolves. have been constructed in the Czech and Slovak contexts. The "nonexpert" will not fnd it useful in

2 H-Net Reviews an attempt to understand Central European na‐ the issue ought to have been identifed, evaluated, tionalism in general or Czech and Slovak national‐ and then dismissed. Surely, after seventy-fve ism in particular. The expert will fnd it helpful years of existence, some such sense of identity where his or her interests intersect with the topics must have been created, afecting and, in turn, af‐ covered in the essays. fected by the individual national identities. At various times Pynsent brings up ideas or However, I hasten to repeat that these ideas facts that could have been a launching point for are from the book I would have liked to have discussion of the relationship between two na‐ seen, which was not the book that the author had tional identities functioning in one political unit. in mind. In part, this criticism may be unfair as For example, in Chapter 4 he notes that Slovaks the author is Professor of Czech and Slovak Litera‐ are more vociferous in their nationalism than ture at the University of London. (He is an editor Czechs and reminds us that Slovak nationalism is of and contributor to The Everyman Companion longstanding. During the interwar years, many to East European Literature, published in the Slovaks felt that they had lost their Hungarian United States as the Reader's Encyclopedia of masters only to have them replaced by Czechs. He Eastern European Literature.)[1] His interest further notes that "After the War, the Slovaks, un‐ would presumably be the study of literature like the Czechs, did not vote for the Communists, rather than historical, social, or political issues. and so again the Slovaks had a government im‐ Finally, I do not think that any constructive posed on them" (p. 151). He does not discuss the purpose is served by sarcastic criticism. Describ‐ Czech perceptions of Slovakia's role in the war or ing Flora Rheta Schreiber[2] as one "who writes the Czech reaction to any Slovak viewpoints. with the elegance of a three-legged dromedary Events and consequent perceptions on both sides chasing a mosquito" (p. 138) or Eda Kriseova's re‐ would have been a fruitful ground for exposition cent biography of Havel[3] as "generally infantile" had the author stressed comparison and results of (p. 212) refects poorly on the author. The book interaction between the two parties over a period would have been better had these comments been of time. It is as though we are given detailed de‐ deleted, since the works are only briefy cited and scriptions of two characters in a play but never are not key to the discussion. see or hear them interact. Notes A large part of the question ought to consider [1]. Robert B. Pynsent, ed., Reader's Encyclo‐ not just how a national identity is formed but: pedia of Eastern European Literature (New York: where does it lead from there? How do interac‐ HarperCollins, 1993). tions with the other strengthen or mitigate the sense of identity? Since interaction and resulting [2]. Author of Sybil: The True Story of a Wom‐ perceptions are part of the overall dynamics of an Possessed by Sixteen Separate Personalities nationalities and ethnic groups in Central Europe, (New York: Warner Books, 1973). pursuing that line of investigation would have [3]. Eda Kriseova, Vaclav Havel (Brno: Zitopis, been rewarding and valuable for both scholars 1991). and general readers. Copyright (c) 1997 by H-Net, all rights re‐ Further, was there a Czechoslovak sense of served. This work may be copied for non-proft identity, based upon the political union that came educational use if proper credit is given to the re‐ into being after the First World War, and how viewer and to HABSBURG. For other permission, strong was it? If Pynsent believes that there was please contact and .

3 H-Net Reviews

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/habsburg

Citation: Robert N. Stacy. Review of Pynsent, Robert B. Questions of Identity: Czech and Slovak Ideas of Nationality and Personality. HABSBURG, H-Net Reviews. December, 1996.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=740

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

4