CZECHOSLOVAK STORIES Two Words Czech and Slovak by Means O F the “ ”

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

CZECHOSLOVAK STORIES Two Words Czech and Slovak by Means O F the “ ” THE I NT E R P R E T E R S ’ S E R I E S C Z E C H ééL O VA K S T O R I E S TRA NS LAT E D FR OM TH E OR I G I NA L AN D E DI TE D W I TH A N I NTR ODU C TI ON B Y S A R K A B . B R E K OVA P r ofessor of S lcw c Lan es at thc Umverszity of Nebraska (1908-1919) 2 b Co pyrigh t . 19 0. y DUFFIELD AND COMPANY P1 wte d m th e United S tates o f Americ a To T HE LI TT LE M OT HE R ’ Who n Americ a , lovi g her children s , kept ever b lo o min in m g, her new ho e, a. garden of the fl e C and S k sweet ow rs of zech lova literature . CONTE NTS PAGE Introduction Svatopluk Cech ’ Fo ltjrn s Drum Jan Neruda The Vampire Benes At the Sign o f the Three Lilies He Was a Rascal Frantisek Xavier Svoboda Every Fifth Man Joseph Svatopluk Machar Theories o f Heroism Bo i ena Viko v a- K unétic ka Spiritless B o i ena Némc o v a “ Bewitched Bara Alois Jirase k The Philosophers Ignat Herrman What Is Omitted from the Coo k book o f Madame Magdalena Do b ro mila R ettigo v a Jan Klec anda For the Land of His Fathers iv CONTENTS PA G E Car oline Svetla Barbara Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C CZE CHOSLOVAK STORIES INTRODUCTION THE CZECHOSLOVAKS AND THEIR LI TER ATUR E THE literature of the nation o f Czechoslovaks is as h s a ancient as its istory . For a period of over a thou nd i en years , the l terature of no nation is more closely twined with its history than is that o f the people com i i pos ng the new Czechoslovak Republ c . When the first despatches began to appear in English and American newspapers relative to the exploits o f the in Czechoslovak troops Russia and Siberia, the average “ reader asked : Who are these new people ? What new nation is this that has sprung into prominence as ” a friend to the Allies ? It was nec essary to enlighten many even o f more than usual intelligence and to inform the general public was that it no new , strange rac e of whose brave dee ds they were reading but only the old and oft - tested nation o f the Czech inhabitants o f Bohemia in northwestern o f o f Austria and the Slovaks northern Hungary , the name “ Czechoslovak ” being formed by combining the 1 2 CZECHOSLOVAK STORIES two words Czech and Slovak by means o f the “ ” o . c conjunctive The Cze hoslovaks are , therefore , s o f Co the direct descendant John Huss , Komensky ( i s l Palac k an d n men n ) , Ko lar , y, Havlicek a thousa d he other staunch upholders of t truth and right , torch o bearers f Europe . The C z echs had chafed under Austrian misrule since ’ in o f the fateful day when , a period Bohemia s weak o f l u ness , the Hapsburgs gained control the ittle co ntry i i o f u wh ch , geograph cally , forms the very heart E rope and in many another way has been the organ which sent the blood pulsating freely and vigorously thr ough the body o f the Old World . The Slovaks have suffered even greate r persecutions with no chance of redress from the Magyar (Hungarian) population which forms the southeas tern portion o f what was once the Dual Empire . was s It no wonder, therefore , that the Czech and a o f Slovaks , enduring for ges the persecutions German hi a ar r k i and gy , and in past pe iods now ng too well that they were but tools fo r Hapsburg ambi tion which for go t the promised reward o f independence when its o wn i selfish objects were attained , l ned themselves to a man o n the side of justice and democracy when the clarion a n was s c ll went rou d the world . There no written um s mon , not even an uttered determination but when the r - l man power of Aust ia Hungary was mobi i z ed , the z h i C ec s and Slovaks , forced into the Hapsburg arm es , looked significantly at each other . That look meant D INTRODUCTION C We shall meet in Serbia, Russia , Italy , France according to the front against which they were sent . o f f The story the Czechs and Slovaks , subjects o Francis Joseph , fighting on the side of Serbia and Italy to whose armies they had made their way in some inexplicable manner , drifted through now and then to the American public . But , most marvelous was f o f the feat o those thousands Slav soldiers , who, at — r i their fi st opportun ty , deserted to Russia there to reorganize themselves into strong fighting units o n the hi side where lay their sympat es . Then came the downfall o f the Russian Revolution o f and the collapse the whole national morale . The Treaty o f Brest - Litovsk freed hundreds of thousands of - German and Magyar war prisoners in Russia . The Red o n Army was formed , thr eatening the vast supplies the - Trans Siberian railway . o f i Separated , by thousands m les , from their homes , o f the Czechoslovaks , a mere handful in the midst the millions of German and Magyar freed war- prisoners o f o f k Siberia who led the vast armies the Bolshevi i , pre di sent a picture of unexampled daun tlessness , of splen d courage with only the hope o f the attainment o f their ’ country s freedom to spur them o n amidst their bleak ’ n and bloody five years isolation . It is , i deed , a theme for an epic . It remains to be seen whether that epic shall be wr itten in the Anglo- Saxon tongue o r in the language of those whose noble efforts achieved the i recogn tion and the independence o f Czechoslovakia . 4 CZECHOSLOVAK STORI ES A nation producing the quality o f men who never forgot what they were striving for even though the struggle was centuries o ld arouses the interest o f the o f thinking public . Whence came the strength purpose of these representatives o f so small a country ? The Czec hoslovak Republic comprises , with the combined n o f areas of the former ki gdom Bohemia , margraviate o f l o f Moravia , duchy Si esia and province of Slovakia but square miles of territory and some is its ? no t of people . Where then power Surely in the extent o f its realm o r the number of its inh ab i n ta ts . “ i No t by m ght , but by the spirit shall ye conquer is the motto that has been sung by every Czechoslovak i poet and writer . Its ph losophers have added Only of free and enlightened individuals , can we make a free ” and enlightened nation . It can truly be said that the writers among the Czechs and Slovaks have been the teachers and saviours i of the r nation . In no land has literature as such played a greater part in educating and developing national instinct and u m ideals . In co ntries untra melled by the rigors of a f sti f Austrian censorship of every spoken word , it is possible to train patriots in schools , auditoriums , r o f chu ches . The confiscation Czech newspapers for even a remote criticism of the Hapsburg government was a regular thing long before the exigencies o f war ad m e such a proceeding somewhat excusable . INTRODUCTION 5 It was then thr ough be lles - lettres that the training for freedom had to come . And the writers of the nation were ready for they had been prepared for the task by the spiritual inheritance from their ins pired pre dec es e sors . And so it came about that in th ir effort to express the soul o f the nation they told in every form of lit erature o f the struggles to maintain lofty aspirations and spiritual ideals . The literature of the Czechs and Slovaks groups itself naturally into three main periods— just as does the history of their land . of 1 . The Early period beginning with the inception writing in the Czech language to the time of John l Huss (14 15) with its c imax in the fourteenth century . 2 i . The M ddle period reaching its height in the six te enth century and closing with the downfall o f the mid nation after the Battle of White Mountain , in the dle of the seventeenth century . (Only a few desultory ff e orts mark the early part of the eighteenth century . ) 3 . The Modern period opening with the renaissance o f the Czech literary language at the end o f the eigh tee nth century and including the marvelous develop o f ment the present century . Only a few names of each period c an be included i in th s brief survey . EARLY PERI OD The oldest writings in the old Slavonic which was i brought to Bohemia by the m ssionaries , Cyril and 6 CZECHOSLOVAK STORIES e i Methodius , dat back to the n nth century , when the Czechs and Moravians accepted Christianity .
Recommended publications
  • Jindřich Toman
    Jindřich Toman: Publications and Presentations Authored Books / Authored Books in Preparation / Edited Books / Translated Books / Articles and Book Chapters / Reviews / Miscellanea / Presentations Authored Books ______________________________________ 2009 Foto/montáž tiskem - Photo/Montage in Print. Praha: Kant (The Modern Czech Book, 2), 380 pp. ______________________________________ 2004 Kniha v českém kubismu / Czech Cubism and the Book. Praha: Kant (The Modern Czech Book, 1), 206 pp. _____________________________________ 1995 The Magic of a Common Language—Mathesius, Jakobson, Trubetzkoy and the Prague Linguistic Circle. Cambridge: MIT Press. 355 pp. • Also in Czech as Příběh jednoho moderního projektu: Pražský lingvistický kroužek, 1926-1948. Praha: Karolinum, 2011. ______________________________________ 1983 Wortsyntax: Eine Diskussion ausgewählter Probleme deutscher Wortbil- dung. Tübingen: Niemeyer. • Wortsyntax: [...] 2., erweiterte Auflage [Second, expanded edition]. Tübingen: Niemeyer. 1987. Current Book Projects ______________________________________ in prep. Projects, Conflicts, Change: Bohemia’s Jews and Their Nineteenth-century. in prep. Languages of Simplicity: Modernist Book Design in Interwar Czechoslo- vakia. Prague: Kant (The Modern Czech Book, 4.) Edited Books ______________________________________ 2017 Angažovaná čítanka Romana Jakobsona: Články, recenze, polemiky – 1920- 1945 a Moudrost starých Čechů. [Roman Jakobson’s Engaged Reader: Articles, Reviews, Polemics, 1920-1945]. Praha: Karolinum. ______________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • The German National Attack on the Czech Minority in Vienna, 1897
    THE GERMAN NATIONAL ATTACK ON THE CZECH MINORITY IN VIENNA, 1897-1914, AS REFLECTED IN THE SATIRICAL JOURNAL Kikeriki, AND ITS ROLE AS A CENTRIFUGAL FORCE IN THE DISSOLUTION OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. Jeffery W. Beglaw B.A. Simon Fraser University 1996 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts In the Department of History O Jeffery Beglaw Simon Fraser University March 2004 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. APPROVAL NAME: Jeffery Beglaw DEGREE: Master of Arts, History TITLE: 'The German National Attack on the Czech Minority in Vienna, 1897-1914, as Reflected in the Satirical Journal Kikeriki, and its Role as a Centrifugal Force in the Dissolution of Austria-Hungary.' EXAMINING COMMITTEE: Martin Kitchen Senior Supervisor Nadine Roth Supervisor Jerry Zaslove External Examiner Date Approved: . 11 Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.
    [Show full text]
  • Language and Loss in Macha's Máj
    ZTRACENÝ LIDSTVA RÁJ: LANGUAGE AND LOSS IN MACHA'S MÁJ By Alfred Th o mas I. Like all great national poets - Pushkin, Mickiewicz, Shevchenko - the Czech Romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha (1810-1836) has become a cultural monument in his own country, the subject of an ever-growing mass of scholarship. Yet in his short life-time and for a period after his death, Macha's importance as a lyric poet of genius remained unrecognized in his nativeland. He evenincurred the disapproval andhostil- ity of his contemporaries for his refusal to conceive of literatuře in narrow nationalist terms. Since the beginnings of literary activity in the twelfth Century, Czech literatuře has been engagé, circumscribed by local political considerations. Its principál feature is insularity rather than universality. Mácha rejected the traditional role of the didactic author and thereby transgressed the orthodox values of the Obrození [National Revi- val]. In 1840 the nationalist playwright Josef Kajetán Tyl, author of Jan Hus, pres- ented a partial caricature of the Romantic Mácha in his story Rozervanec [literally, the one torn apart]. The title refers to the Byronic hero whose soul is divided by internal spirituál discord. Such a notion of division presupposes a humanistic ideal of unity and essence. By 'tearing aparť this ideal Mácha was in fact challenging the philosophical basis of the National Revival itself1. In the years following his death, Macha's reputation began to grow. In 1858 the almanach Máj was founded in his memory. Its co-editors were Vítězslav Hálek and Jan Neruda; its principál adherents were Karel Jaromír Erben, Božena Němcová, Karolina Světlá and Adolf Heyduk2.
    [Show full text]
  • Ilana Mcquinn UGA Libraries Undergraduate Research Award the Seeds of My Thesis
    Ilana McQuinn UGA Libraries Undergraduate Research Award The seeds of my thesis “Repression, Literature, and the Growth and Metamorphosis of Czech National Identity in the 20th Century” were sown in March of 2007, when I spent ten days in Prague with my parents. While I was there, I bought Jaroslav Hasek’s The Good Soldier Svejk, Bohumil Hrabal’s I Served the King of England, and Jan Neruda’s Prague Tales. The trip and novels opened my eyes to the experience of the Czech people in the 20th Century, subjected to foreign occupation after foreign occupation throughout the World Wars and the rise of the USSR, while attempting to form national identity. I became a double major in Comparative Literature and History precisely because of the way the aforementioned literature encapsulated and enlivened history in my eyes. My curiosity grew, and I enrolled in Dr. Jerzak’s course in Eastern and Central European Literature, where I encountered Hrabal’s Closely Watched Trains. The darkly comedic characters of Hrabal’s novels indicated a trend in Czech literature beginning with Hasek’s The Good Soldier Svejk, a comedy about the Czechs under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These were stories of “accidental heroes” of Czech nationalism who embraced their nationality not by intrinsic values or feeling, but by some external pressure, as if by accident. Yet, I knew little to nothing about the actual history of the former Czechoslovakia and its 20th Century experiences to support this. I approached Dr. John Morrow Jr. in the History department about researching the development of a national identity in Czechoslovakia during the 20th Century.
    [Show full text]
  • Jan Neruda's Use of Shakespeare in His Journalism
    SBORNfK PRACf FILOZOFICKE FAKULTY BRNENSKE UNIVERZITY STUDIA MINORA FACULTATIS PHILOSOPHICAE UNIVERSITATIS BRUNENSIS K 7 (1985) - BRNO STUDIES IN ENGLISH 16 JAN NERUDA'S USE OF SHAKESPEARE IN HIS JOURNALISM Lidmila Pantuckovd Every reader, lover and critic of Jan Neruda (1834—1891), the greatest perso­ nality of Czech literature in the second half of the 19th century, is familiar with the fact that this brilliant prose writer, journalist and poet, penetrating literary, dramatic and art critic, himself a substantially successful dramatist, was a profound admirer of William Shakespeare. Indeed, this admiration cannot pass unnoticed, for it is many times explicitly expressed. When writing about or referring to Shakespeare, Neruda more often than not makes use of this opportunity for paying tribute to him as the greatest dramatist of world literature and the most original and versatile poet of enormous creative power, or, to paraphrase his words, a spir­ itual giant who entirely fills the whole space between earth and the canopy of heaven. He ranks him among those titans who "elevated the human spirit and irradiated the human heart",1 and — typically for Neruda's progressive world outlook, the fruit of his proletarian origin — among those great men who were no strangers to poverty and yet served mankind most excellently.2 Neruda's relationship to Shakespeare is not, of course, limited to these explicit expressions — it permeates his whole work and all his activities. As feuilletonist dealing with Czech political, social, cultural and everyday life, and also as a critic of literature, music and the fine arts, Neruda used Shakespeare's works as a rich quarry for quotations, paraphrases and references to illustrate his own views and make them thus more emphatic and attractive (in the same way he used, of course, the works of many other writers of almost all nationalities).
    [Show full text]
  • Jindrich Toman
    Jindřich Toman: Publications and Presentations Authored Books / Authored Books in Preparation / Edited Books / Translated Books / Articles and Book Chapters / Reviews / Miscellanea / Presentations Authored Books ______________________________________ 2009 Foto/montáž tiskem - Photo/Montage in Print. Praha: Kant. (The Modern Czech Book, 2.) 380 pp. ______________________________________ 2004 Kniha v českém kubismu / Czech Cubism and the Book. Praha: Kant. (The Modern Czech Book, 1.) 206 pp. _____________________________________ 1995 The Magic of a Common Language—Mathesius, Jakobson, Trubetzkoy and the Prague Linguistic Circle. Cambridge: MIT Press. 355 pp. • Also in Czech as Příběh jednoho moderního projektu: Pražský lingvistický kroužek, 1926-1948, Praha: Karolinum 2011. ______________________________________ 1983 Wortsyntax: Eine Diskussion ausgewählter Probleme deutscher Wortbildung. Universität Köln, 1980. • Wortsyntax: [...] 2., erweiterte Auflage [Second, expanded edition]. Tübingen: Niemeyer. 1987. Authored Books in Preparation ______________________________________ 2012 Conditions of Inclusion: Bohemia’s Jews and their Nineteenth Century 2012 Clean Books: Abstract and Functional Book Design in Interwar Czechoslovakia. Prague: Kant, in preparation. (The Modern Czech Book, 4.) Edited Books ______________________________________ 2014 Roman Jakobson: Uncollected Works, 1916-1943, Part Two: 1934-1943. Edited, with an introduction, by Jindřich Toman. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. (Roman Jakobson – Selected Writings, vol. 9.2) ______________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • 189 BETWEEN the EAST and WEST the German Reception Of
    2011 ActA universitAtis cArolinAe – philologicA 2 Pag.: 189–199 trAnslAtologicA prAgensiA viii BeTWeen The easT and WesT The german reception of mácha’s Máj in the 19th Century asTrid WinTer (chArles university, prAgue, czech republic) aBsTraCT In Mácha’s lifetime, his Czech contemporaries dismissed his magnum opus as un-Czech. In 1836, it received scathing reviews, and it was not until many years after his death that Máj was considered again. The first to receive the main work of the greatest Czech Romantic author with enthusiasm were its German-speaking readers. In particular, it was the Prague journal Ost und West in which the first reviewers of the poemMáj emphasized and appreciated not only the will to create a national literary language, but also the quality and virtuosity with which the Czech language was employed. Among all the languages into which Máj was translated, it was by far most often rendered into German during the course of the 19th century: in 1844 by Siegfried Kapper, 1862 by Alfred Waldau and 1882 by Karel Müller. Alfred Waldau wrote that Mácha was “one of the grandest and most beautiful stars on the horizon of new Bohemian poetry”. He accused the Germans of being ignorant of the poetry of this so close a nation, “whose land is so to speak a bridge connecting the East and the West”. What appealed most to him was Mácha’s mindset which seemed to correspond to the revolutionary spirit of “Vormärz” (West) and which was at the same time assumed to embody the idea of Slavic cultural unity (East).
    [Show full text]
  • Karel Havlíček V Novější Odborné Literatuře*
    SBORNÍK NÁRODNÍHO MUZEA V PRAZE ACTA MUSEI NATIONALIS PRAGAE Řada C – Literární historie • sv. 61 • 2016 • č. 3–4 • s. 27–38 Series C – Historia Litterarum • vol. 61 • 2016 • no. 3–4 • pp. 27–38 KarEl HavlíčEK v NověJší oDBorNé lItEratUřE* Petr Píša (Praha) Karel Havlíček in More Recent Scientific Literature Abstract: Based on an analysis of monographs and the main scientific studies devoted to Karel Havlíček, the article aims to present the basic topics and directions of research on Karel Havlíček while drawing attention to professional desiderata. It deals with Havlíček’s monumental biography by Karel Kazbunda, which was not published until five decades after it was written, and other, smaller monographic publications on Havlíček. Among other things, the paper describes also other works analysing Havlíček’s other life, his work as a journalist and his involvement in the polemics against the book of poems České listy by Siegfried Kapper, and indicates new impulses for research brought by the editorial preparation and synoptic analysis of Havlíček’s correspondence. Keywords: Karel Havlíček – historiography – literary science – 1989–2015 – Czech history of the 19th century Pohled na knihkupecké pulty krátce po roce 1989 mohl esej Zdeňka Mahlera z roku 1969.7 O něco později se vydání vyvolat zdání, že doba Karlu Havlíčkovi přeje. Tuzemská dočkala i úvaha Vlastimila Kybala, původně publikovaná veřejnost se mohla seznámit s díly připravovanými ještě v exilu za druhé světové války, a znovu, již počtvrté, byl ve starém systému státních nakladatelství – roku 1990 vydán i Havlíčkův životopis od Tomáše Garrigua Masaryka.8 vyšel v Klubu přátel poezie Československého spisovatele S pádem železné opony získali Češi opětovnou možnost čtenářský výbor z Havlíčkova díla Stokrát plivni do moře1 podívat se na vlastní oči do Brixenu,9 kde byla roku 1995 a v královéhradeckém Kruhu pečlivý výběr Havlíčkovy odhalena druhá pamětní deska věnovaná českému exulantovi.
    [Show full text]
  • Czech and Slovak Literature in English
    Czech and Slovak Literature in English A Bibliography Second Edition Czech and Slovak Literature in English A Bibliography Second Edition By George J. Kovtun European Division Library of Congress Washington 1988 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kovtun, George J. Czech and Slovak literature in English. Includes indexes. Supt. of Docs, no.: LC 1.12/2:C99 1. Czech literature—Translations into English— Bibliography. 2. Slovak literature—Translations into English—Bibliography. 3. English literature—Translations from Czech—Bibliography. 4. English literature— Translations from Slovak—Bibliography. I, Library of Congress. European Division. II. Title. Z2138.L5K68 1988 [PG5145.E1] 016.8918'6 87-17004 ISBN 0-8444-0578-7 Cover: English readers, as depicted in Karel Capek's Letters from England, translated by Paul Selver. (DA630.C18 1925) For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 Contents Page Preface to Second Edition v Preface to First Edition vii A. Anthologies (Prose and Poetry) 1 B. Anthologies (Folklore) 11 C. General History and Criticism 15 D. Czech Authors ­ 43 E. Slovak Authors 125 Indexes Czech Authors 141 Slovak Authors 144 Authors and Editors of Anthologies and Other Works 145 Translators 149 Preface to the Second Edition This new edition of Czech and Slovak Literature in English is a revised, expanded, and updated version of the first edition, published in 1984, which is now out of print and which this new volume thus supersedes. Selected works produced over the four-year period 1983-1986 were added to the previous biblio­ graphic record and several errors and omissions were corrected.
    [Show full text]
  • CZECH (With Slovak)
    UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD FACULTY OF MEDIEVAL AND MODERN LANGUAGES Information for the Preliminary Course in CZECH (with Slovak) 2010/2011 THE PRELIMINARY COURSE The Prelims course in “Czech (with Slovak)” is normally devoted entirely to the study of Czech – although a student competent in Slovak may translate from English into Slovak instead of Czech in the examination. (An introduction to reading Slovak is provided during the second year.) First-year teaching in Czech language and literature – in the form of university lectures, college classes/seminars and tutorials – is coordinated by: Dr James D. Naughton (St Edmund Hall) University Lecturer in Czech and Slovak email: [email protected] The timetable of classes in Michaelmas Term will be arranged at a meeting held towards the end of Freshers Week (= Noughth Week). Beginners will receive around three hours of intensive Czech language classes per week, and more advanced students will be catered for as appropriate. Students also attend a weekly lecture on Czech literature and a weekly seminar on Czech literary texts. These continue throughout the year. There will also be tutorials for essay work on Czech literature; these tutorials are usually held in Hilary and Trinity Terms. A number of links to local and outside web resources for students of Czech and Slovak language and literature are provided on the following web pages: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~tayl0010/links.html http://users.ox.ac.uk/~tayl0010/czech.html Further details about the papers to be sat in the Preliminary Examination and set texts for literature are given below, followed by an introductory reading list, with recommended dictionaries, textbooks and some background reading.
    [Show full text]
  • Bedřich Smetana
    even afford to hire a piano. His first priority, however, was to secure systematic instruction in harmony, counterpoint and composition, and he arranged to have 7 lessons from the distinguished teacher Josef Proksch (1794-1864), without having any money to pay for them. Fortunately a suggestion from J. B. Kittl, the director of the BEDŘICH SMETANA conservatory, led to his appointment as resident piano teacher of Count Leopold John Clapham Thun‟s family; he held the post from January 1844 until 1 June 1847, a period of stability during which he could benefit fully from Proksch‟s guidance. On 23 January [Friedrich] (b Litomyšl, Bohemia, 2 March 1824; d Prague, 12 May 1884). Czech 1845 he wrote in his diary: „By the grace of God and with his help I shall one day be a composer. The first major nationalist composer of Bohemia, he gave his people a new Liszt in technique and a Mozart in composition‟. His studies culminated in 1846, when musical identity and self-confidence by his technical assurance and originality in he wrote instrumental and vocal fugues, piano studies, variations and a Sonata in G handling national subjects. In his eight operas and most of his symphonic poems, he minor for his professor. He may have met Berlioz, one of his heroes, at Proksch‟s drew on his country‟s legends, history, characters, scenery and ideas to an extent soirée on 10 April 1846, and nine months later he met the Schumanns (he was a warm unsurpassed by any other nationalist composer, presenting them with a freshness and admirer of Robert‟s music) when they were Count Thun‟s guests.
    [Show full text]
  • Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda As Chilean Icons by Kathryn Spencer
    Gendering the Poetic Nation: Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda as Chilean Icons by Kathryn Spencer A thesis presented for the B. A. degree with Honors in The Department of English University of Michigan Winter 2015 © 2015 Kathryn Spencer "Lo que el alma hace por su cuerpo es lo que el artista hace por su pueblo." – Gabriela Mistral Acknowledgements This project began on the red line metro in Santiago, Chile, between stops Manquehue and La Católica, where I would read Pablo Neruda’s biography on the Kindle app on my cell phone. I didn’t know where this project was going at that point, but its completion has certainly made for a rewarding end to my undergraduate career. The time I spent in Chile introduced me to Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda. It took me to the poets’ homes, which I entered with awe and departed from inspired. I am indebted to Neruda’s odes and to each of Mistral’s locas mujeres. I am indebted to the time I spent at Mistral’s schoolhouse, where I learned that Chile is a land of poetry. I am indebted to Neruda’s Valparaíso home La Sebastiana, which charmed me into committing to this project. I would like to thank my brilliant advisor, Amy Carroll, who regularly says things offhand that I would have dreamed to write myself. Thank you for turning my instincts into convictions, and my at times inelegant prose into this polished, finished product. I would also like to thank Gillian White, whose guidance has contributed immensely to the completion of this project.
    [Show full text]