The article is concerned with echoes of the Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs) in the context of the literature of the Czech National Revival, particularly in the Rukopis královédvorský. It turns out that the literary-historical assessment of the Nibelungenlied changed in connection with firm position of the manuscript forgeries in the culture of the Czech National revival, from uncritical acceptance of the Nibelungenlied model to attempts to rate it above the Manuscripts as a document of the highly developed culture of the early Czechs. The debates comparing two pillars of German and Czech literature were incorporated, through a modified understanding of Herder’s conception of the Slavs and Tacitus’ conception of the Teutons, in a primarily oppositional distinction between Slav literary imagery and a Teutonic literary representation of the world. Similarities can, however, be found at the core of the problem. In addition to analogical debates about the origins of the two works and their authorship, in spite of the inclusion of both works in supranational cultures (Slav versus Germanic), different conceptions (Czech versus German) of the literary foreshadowing of the make-up of the romantic literary self could take shape against the background of a comparison of the two documents. On the basis of the example of the revivalist interpretation of the two poetic works, the article demonstrates that both types of hero, though originating from the desire for an unattainable ideal, but at the level of motives, aims, and objectives, they represent two different literary approaches. In the revivalist essays, shared literary features (from similar to antithetical) were interpreted on the basis of the aesthetic approaches of, for example, František Palacký (1798–1876), Jan Erazim Vocel (1803–1871), and Václav Bolemír Nebeský (1818–1882), apparently critical of German romantic literary theories, for example, those of the Schlegels.
2
Dostęp do pełnego tekstu na zewnętrznej witrynie WWW
This article is a discussion of the poem Čech by Karel Hynek Mácha (1810–1836), which is concerned with the mythical arrival of the Czechs to their new settlements in the Bohemian basin. For early nineteenth ‑century culture this was a highly important theme with many cultural and ideological implications and contexts. The supposedly peaceful arrival of the Czechs in a deserted land appeared particularly important. In the spirit of Herder’s ideas the non-belligerent, passive nature of the Slavs appeared thus to be confirmed. Czech national culture sought to oppose this image and in several variants created the motif of the victorious battles of ‘occupation’ of the Czechs. The most radical versions even represented the mythical Czechs as victors over the roman legions – these interpretations were clearly inspired by the German legend of Arminius (Hermann) and his struggle against the legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus in the Teutoburg Forest. Mácha strips the matter of the arrival of the Czechs of external contexts. He does not specify even the nature of the enemy or the area from which the ancestral Czechs allegedly came to the Bohemia. Instead, he limits himself to a depiction of the height of the victorious battle. Three texts, highly prestigious at that time, were an inspiration to him: the Rukopis královédvorský, the poems of Ossian in Czech translation, and the Iliad of Homer. The inspirations that Mácha found here, however, he combined into a relatively sophisticated, artistically demanding form. This is particularly evident in the form and manner of using verse of this kind. Because of its artistic quality, the poem Čech, which some experts considered a later forgery, turns out really to be Mácha’s work. It can reasonably be situated in the later period of the poet’s work. This chronology also demonstrates an essential feature of Mácha’s works, in which different elements of literature (particularly patriotic and subjective elements) existed side by side. The common denominator is the author’s endeavour radically to make aesthetic motifs that were common in the period, and to create an exceptionally artistic form.
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.