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The concept of “dormant nation”, implying the connotation of “awakening”, is characteristic of the Еnlightenment era and actualises in a context of national or political slavery. In Slavic cultures, the concept becomes constant, its specifics linguistically expressed in the emergence of the word “buditel” (“one who awakens others”) – absent in other European languages. The „dormant nation“ concept links with that of the „dormant hero/leader“, ambiguous in a sense that it either keeps up the faith in liberation, or suggests problematism in the mission of nation-awakening. In the national mythology in Czech and Polish culture, an important place has the image of dormant knights from folklore, awaiting their time to lead off a battle for national liberation. ‘Dormant knights’ legends are a constant in these cultures, given they actively function at present. In Czech literature, in Ian Neruda’s work, the image of the dormant nation is interpreted in evangelical code, through the identification of the nation with the dormant child Jesus, the future Savior. In Polish literature, the image of the dormant national leader finds also a satirical depiction, in works by Jan Kochanowski, Wacław Potocki, Juliush Słowacki and Stanisław Wyspiański. The observations over texts of Czech and Polish culture suggest closeness, as well as specifics in the interpretation of the concept. A Bulgarian gaze would in turn catch the specifics of Bulgarian “dormant nation” concept (satirical depiction of the dormant nation of slaves, the motif of God’s sleep as an expression of the doubt in God’s justice).
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Reviews of: Jahim Topol: Jachym Topol: Citlivÿ človek (Osjetljivi čovjek). Torst, Praha, 20172. Milena jesenska: Krizovatky (ed. Mariejirâskovâ). (Raskrsnice) Praha: Torst, 2016 3. Bianka Belova: Jezero. Host, Brno, 2016 4. Zbigniev Čendlik and Marketa Zahradnikova: Postel, hospoda, kostel (Krevet, kafana, crkva). Argo, Praha, 2016 5. Marcela Linkova and Nadja Strakova: Bytova revolta:Jakženy dëlaly disent (Revolt po stanovima) , Praha: Academi, 2017 6. Petr Borkovec: Lido di Dante. Praha: Fra, 2017 7. Katedžina Madjarkova: Madarkovâjustÿnka a asistenčni jednorožec (Justinka i asistent jednorog) Praha: Albatros, 2017
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The two complementary articles are focused on the personal papers of the classical author of Czech poetry, J. V. Sládek (1845–1912), deposited in the Literature Archive of the Museum of Czech Literature, and are concerned with their digitalization. The first article deals with the gradual formation of the fond as a whole. It draws attention to the as yet unemployed potential of individual sources. Digitalization may serve to boost this potential for further studies in literary science and cultural history, in academic studies and in other publishing projects concerning Sládek’s literary and photographic work. In relation to the digitalization of the fond, attention is also paid to, for example, the genesis of Sládek’s translations of Shakespeare’s dramas (the manuscript being pasted over on a number of places); the gap concerning the as yet not published complete Sládek’s poems for children; the biographical and culturally historical information presented in the extensive family correspondence spanning from the years Sládek spent in America (1868–1870) up to the year of his death. We are also reminded of the testimonial value, both artistic and technical, of Sládek’s almost unknown photographic work, of his own glass and celluloid negatives as well as of professionally taken portraits preserved in family albums.The second paper emphasizes the technical problems connected with digitalization (scanning and photographing) of specific archive materials and of objects that are categorized in individual archives according to methodological rules. The paper also creates special methodological rules for the transferring of various materials to the digital format.
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This article deals with a comparison of two fairy tale texts: Duhové pohádky (Rainbow Fairy Tales, 2012) by Czech author Daniela Fischerová and Пъстри приказалки (Colourful Tales, 2008) by Bulgarian writer Maya Dălgătcheva, the texts are the vehicle of aesthetic goals and also of didactic ones: bringing the basic colour range to the pre-primary recipient. Both authors try to awaken children’s colour perception by using prose poems or by linking prosaic fairy tales with lyrical poems.
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The main aim of the paper is to present a literary model of the family in the Czech poetry of the 1950s. The author explains the way the socialistic ideology determined and changed the character of intimate family relationships showed in literature. Another aspect of the problem is also undertaken: the author describes the way how the socialistic literature was using family relationships as a metaphor of the communistic state and party. The traditional attributes of the family was used in literature and propaganda to depict the relations between the individual and society and to create the vision of the socialistic state.
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The author of the study analyses selected issues of literary and film language-speech relationsboth from the point of view of literary and film aesthetics and in the context of the CentralEuropean cultural area during the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. He is especiallyinterested in the Czech prose of the 1960s and the “new wave” in Czechoslovak film. Theprose and film of the Czech and Slovak filmmakers of the period are remarkably connectedwith the efforts for a new artistic expression with the pursuit of a new perspective on taboo orideologically accentuated themes from World War II and the Communist regime. The specificsituation of Czechoslovak culture in the 1960s, when the ideological constraints of art werereleased, enabled the creation of works that are not a closed chapter in literary and film history,but are still inspiring to this day.
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The text attempts to identify specific methods used in film adaptations of literary works bySlovak and Czech authors that represent genres of popular culture in the so-called cinematographyof transition, defined by historical milestones which reflect various social, culturaland political changes. The normalization process in Czechoslovakia “softened” after 1985 andCzechoslovak cinematography became more open and free, although it still remained controlledby censorship which was not institutionally based. The sci-fi films for children andyoung adults, such as The Third Dragon (1985), directed by Peter Hledík, and the televisionfilm Gemini (1991), directed by Pavol Gejdoš, Jr., are pars pro toto examples of films whichwere not heavily loaded with ideology. The blood-spattered comedy The Flames of Royal Love(1990), directed by Jan Němec, typifies the period of social change after the fall of the IronCurtain in 1989 and the bizarre film Horror Story (1993), directed by Jaroslav Brabec, indicatesthe end of the cinematography of transition.
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Eva Bubnášová: HELENA BŘEZINOVÁ: Slavíci, mořské víly a bolavé zuby. Pohádky HanseChristiana Andersena: Mezi romantismem a modernitou. Brno: HOST, 2018; Miroslav Zumrík: DAN RINGGARD — MADS ROSENDAHL THOMSEN (eds.): Danish Literatureas World LiteratureOxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. 291 s.; Alexej Mikulášek: MILAN BLAHYNKA: Sedm kapitol o díle Milana KunderyKřenovice: Nakladatelství Kmen, 2019. 217 s.; Jana Wild: ANNA CETERA-WŁODARCZYK – ALICJA KOSIM: Polski Szekspir. Repozytoriumpolskich przekładów Szekspira w XIX wieku: zasoby, strategie tłumaczeniai recepcjaWarszawa: Wydzial neofilologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskeigo, 2019.; Libuša Vajdová: GERALDINE BRODIE: The Translator on StageLondon: Bloomsbury, 2018, 195 s.
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The popular early modern catalogues of rulers proliferated literary and visual representations of the shared Polish, Bohemian and Hungarian medieval kings that were specific and intelligible to a particular kingdom’s political community. The article examines the dissimilar images of the two last Přemyslid kings, Wenceslas II (1271-1305) and Wenceslas III (1289-1306), as well as of Louis of Anjou (1326-1382) and Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368-1437), the perception of whom differed along political lines. The textual and iconographic analyses of the corpus of 25 catalogues, written by Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Austrian and German authors of four different denominations, demonstrate that the representations of the shared kings, even if colored by current agendas and the changing interests and expectations of their readers, remained virtually unchanged throughout the centuries. The cohesion of their representations resulted from the selection and use of a limited number of sources and models, namely medieval chronicles (in the case of texts), and royal seals or other official royal representations (in the case of images), closely connected and relevant to the particular political communities. In the cases when stylistic features had changed and adjustments had been introduced into the iconography of the royal insignia and heraldic programs, the faces depicted in the catalogues, which were well known to the particular community, remained the same. The popularity and omnipresence of the catalogues in early modern East Central Europe facilitated the broad internalization of the kings’ lives and likenesses and supported the differentiation of historical memory and national narratives in the kingdoms of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary, which still resonate in the popular knowledge of Poles, Czechs and Hungarians about these kings today.
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Review of: Norbert Kersken - Na okraj Kroniky české. [Am Rande der Kronika česka.] Hrsg. von Jan Linka. (Studia Hage-ciana, Bd. 1.) Academia. Praha 2015. 252 S., Ill., Kt., engl. Zus. fass. ISBN 978-80-200-2432-9.
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Review of: Johannes Hus deutsch. Hrsg. von Armin Kohnle und Thomas Krzenck unter Mitarb. von Friedemann Richter und Christiane Domtera-Schleichardt. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. Leipzig 2017. XXXII, 730 S. ISBN 978-3-374-04165-7. (€ 98,–.). Reviewed by Christian Hoffarth.
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The trial of Oscar Wilde, which was widely commented on in the Czech decadent magazine “Moderní revue”, not only revealed the range of the social condemnation of homosexuality, but also opened a discussion about distinctive features of the homosexual identity. The poetry and prose of Jiří Karásek from Lvovice, in the common opinion representing first of all the decadent world outlook, may be regarded as an attempt to bring closer these determinants of the homoerotic way of love and life to the reader. To accomplish this task the writer needed to find out the appropriate literary medium. Karásek rediscovered it in devices of symbolic and decadent poetics, which enable to replace the literal senses of representation by means of semantic undecidability. This solution allowed him to suggest the personal sincerity of the literary expression and to avoid allegations of affectations and decadent pose.
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Written and distributed by men, Czech broadside ballads (kramářske písně) and the worldview promoted within were inherently conservative and patriarchal. Nevertheless, most of their readers and recipients, were women – housewives, mothers or young girls preparing for those social functions. Broadside ballads played an important role in creating and perpetuating family models and patterns of behaviour. Their protagonists were shown as modest role models or – on the contrary – as sinful anti-models, contesting the proper social and religious order. The sinful women of Czech broadside ballads are those breaking social and sexual taboos, mainly by mocking the sanctity of motherhood and marriage. The other kind of sins are those aimed directly at Catholic religion. According to the magical and religious worldview of such ballads, the sinners receive just punishment, often imposed by supernatural powers or forces of nature.
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Anyone who had not her or his permanent residence and wandered the world unemployed, "not being able to prove her or his incomes to live on", could be prosecuted for vagrancy according to the Vagabundengesetz issued in 1873. A convicted person was sentenced from 8 days to 3 months imprisonment and stayed under police supervision for next 3 years, if needed. According to the original statistics, an enormous number of people were sued for vagrancy due to the increase in unemployment as a result of the economic recession and vague definition of a vagabond. The short story "Spravedlnost v Bavorich" (1909) by Jaroslav Hašek provides an illustrative depiction of a sentenced person. Not only Hašek's prose before the First World War but also stories by other Czech authors show the motifs of the action against vagabonds that significantly determines the literary image of these characters as seen and understood by readers. If we compare the Hašek's short story with both "Kapitoly o lidech kočovných" by Josef Uher and "O zlých samotářich" by Ivan Olbracht, we may classify the vagabond as a grotesque character or, on the other band, as a melancholic character that is driven by a strong desire to rove about called the wanderlust rather than a usual physical activity.
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The article In the Mirror of Literature. The Czech–Polish Central European Myth and Its Transformations is an attempt to outline the transformations of the Central European myth, which consists of the Habsburg myth and its transformations expressed in the works of Austromodernists after 1918; the revival of the Central European myth, which took place after the Second World War and was connected with the post-totalitarian regime introduced in the countries belonging to the Soviet Bloc; and the post-transformation period – from the 1990s to the present. The comparative juxtaposition of Polish and Czech literature allows us to trace the development, transformation, and silencing of the myth of Central Europe, which at the same time expresses the identity problems of both nations.
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Childhood is an extremely important stage in everyone’s life. However, it does not always run smoothly and in a gentle way. The text presents the problems of growing up and socializing in the extremely unfavorable conditions of concentration camps on the example of Helga Weissova’s book The Daily Helga. A girl’s testimony about life in concentration camps. This reading is not only a description of living conditions in Nazi camps, but above all, it is a record of growing up in a reality not adapted for this purpose. It shows the girl’s private perspective on the rapidly changing world that surrounds her. For this reason, the reading arouses a lot of extreme emotions and therefore provides very interesting analytical material on the subjects of childhood, adolescence and primary socialization.
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While ideology is a central concept in Václav Havel’s master essay, at no point does he operate with a standard definition of the term. Instead, Havel “defines” ideology in metaphorical and performative terms, reframing our understanding of its meaning and power in the modern world by focusing on its pre-political operation. This point has yet to be appreciated by scholars of Havel. To better understand the import of Havel’s approach, this essay details metaphorical contexts for ideology in The Power of the Powerless and draws connections to ideological performativity in Havel’s plays from the 1970s as well as in the cinema of the Czech New Wave.
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The author looks at Havel’s The Power of the Powerless in the context of Czech twentieth-century political fiction and the criticism that his writing and political activity has received. He also introduces other works, essays and plays, by the author that aid the assessment of statements made in The Power of the Powerless. The last quarter of the article discusses Havel and New Age ideas and endeavors to look at The Power of the Powerless in that light, but also to understand how a person who argued most of his life against the elements of ochlocracy in his own country could in spiritual matters become something of an ochlocrat himself.
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The following article concerns the Prague studies of Bolko V, Duke of Opole (died 1460), also known as the Hussite, the Heretic or Wołoszek. To be more precise, the article returns to the hypothesis concerning his studies in Prague, which were supposed to end with obtaining the bachelor degree (bachelor of liberal arts). To this end, the article focuses on the earlier findings of historians and enters a polemic with those sources (particularly the works of Maciej Woźny), which leads the author to completely new conclusions and allows him to disprove the earlier findings. The article establishes that the primary sources as well as Polish literature on the subject contributed to the creation of a historiographical myth (particularly due to the information included in Annales Glogovienses) regarding Duke Bolko V and his education, which stemmed from insufficiently critical approach to the source material and its selective use. Primarily, the issue concerns incorrect analysis of a writ of the Papal office, dating May 7, 1413, which was, according to Woźny, supposed to shed new light onto the subject, and which has been reinterpreted in the present article. Moreover, the confrontation of the earlier research findings with the source documents as well as Czech literature (particularly hitherto unused student registers and dean’s records of the Prague universities) did not allow to consider the Duke a student of a university in Prague. In light of the repeated analysis of the issue of the Prague studies of Bolko V, Duke of Opole and an interpretation of the archived primary sources, the author argues that it is impossible to substantiate the claim that Bolko V ever studied in Prague and obtained a bachelor’s degree (at least until new sources emerge).
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