CZECH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. The name Czech has always been used by the Slays themselves and by their eastern neighbours. In Western countries derivations of the Latin name of their chief land, Bohemia (Cechy), were in use until recently. To avoid associations with "Bohemianism" the native form Czech and, since the World War, Czechoslovak has been almost universally adopted. The former word is properly spelt Cech (ch as in Scottish loch). The spelling cz which has prevailed in English is found in Latin, old Czech, Polish and occa sionally in German. The origin of the name is obscure. Tradition records it as the name of the chief who led the Slays into Bohemia. It is usually considered an abbreviation of a personal name (fes lav?). The latter form—ceskoslovensky jazyk, in Latin bohemo slavica—has been current for the language since the beginning of the eighteenth century, especially in Slovakia. Up to the thirteenth century the Bohemian Slays called their language slovensky, a name preserved among the Slovaks. The political prestige of the central tribe established a supremacy over the whole of Bohemia towards the close of the tenth century and the name Czech became a generic term. The Slovaks are called natio Slavica seu bohemica in old records (cf. Verbotzi, 1609 etc.) . The expression Moravian language (moraysky) is common among the Czechs who came under Prussian rule in 1742.
The old dual number and the aorist and imperfect, which sur vive in Wendish and Southern Slavonic, were lost; the simple tenses were replaced throughout in the i6th century by the com pound 1-preterite, which distinguishes gender.
It agrees with Southern Slavonic in the treatment of the groups or, er, ol, el. (kral—king, from karl) ; bi eh—bank (cf. German Berg) ; hlava—head (cf. Lithuanian galva) ; mliti—to grind (from *mel-ti). As in Little Russian, g became voiced h. (hora cf. Sanskrit girih—mountain). As in Upper Wendish, its nearest rela tive, the principal accent falls on the first syllable.
The characteristic distinction of literary Czech as compared with the original form of the language and with its more con servative eastern dialects is mutation and other vowel changes, through which the dialects of Bohemia passed between the z 2th and 16th centuries. Dusa became duce (12th c.) ; dusu became dusi (14th c.) ; viera gradually became vira; d became no and later u (sul--salt) ; is was diphthongized into au, later ou (moucha, fly).
The most characteristic features of modern Czech phonology are; clear, somewhat staccato pronunciation without obscuration of the unstressed syllables; a simple vowel system; rigorous pres ervation of the marked distinction between long and short vow els (pdni—gentlemen; pans, ladies) ; the vowel-like r and 1, capa ble of assuming syllabic functions (as in Sanskrit, but never in itially), even in stressed syllables (trn-thorn, Vltava; but Cerny, black, where Serb. has crn, dlouhy, long, not dlhy as in Slo vak) ; r is rolled, the peculiar soft sound of r is voiced or voice less (Rehoi—Gregory). The difficult sounds 1 and y, preserved in Polish, have been long discarded (y is pronounced as i). The difference between hard and soft consonants, which makes Polish phonetics so difficult, has practically disappeared (except in soft d', t', n). P, t and k are never aspirated. In colloquial Czech y is pronounced ej, initial o—vo (oko, eye, becomes voko).
Czech spelling is phonetic. A form of Latin alphabet modified by means of diacritics is used. Vowels are sounded as in Italian; vowel-length is represented by an acute accent, and in the case of long is (medially and finally) by u (Bilk, pron. buch—god). The sign placed over e softens it (vek—vyek—age). Ou as in soul. Most consonants have a similar sound value as in English. The following letters require special attention : C—ts (wits) ; h voiced (perhaps) ; j (hallelujah) ; g (in foreign words) always gut tural (get) ; digraph ch as in loch; s—sh; z—z in azure; r like rs or rz; e—ts (church) ; d', t', soft as in dew, tube, new. The same sound is heard in di, ti, ni, de, te, ne.
The position of the original free stress left its traces in the vowel quantity. Another source of long vowels is the primitive intonation (bldto Russ. boloto), contraction (stdti from stojati) or the nature of the following consonant (mu j from mo j).
The Reformation and the Renaissance.—By the end of the 14th century, Czech literature had grown richer in form and variety, and two aspects of the Czech soul became more pro nounced and found manifold expression. The first was that of meditation on religion, and discontent with the contemporary scholastic system: the second was the revolt against feudalism, and the moral enthusiasm which permeated the public mind in its efforts to find a juster social order. From these two roots, watered by Waldensian teaching and by Wyclif's theology, there grew up the Czech Reformation, known at first as the Hussite movement, and later identified with the Bohemian Brethren. Its forerunners were the learned theologian and reformer Mate j of Janov (b. 2393) who wrote in Latin, and the squire Tomas of Stitne (1331-14o1), a popularizer of learning and the founder of Czech philosophical prose. The influences of these two men were later embodied in the personality of Jan Hus who elabo rated their teachings, and set the seal on them by his martyrdom in 1415. He was an able writer, both in Czech and Latin, and by his eloquence as academical orator and popular preacher he made Wyclif's teachings widely known. By shunning archaisms he adapted the language to the needs of the day, and placed the love of religion in the forefront of all literary activities. For a time it seemed that secular literature had disappeared from Bohemia. Religious inspiration, however, produced powerful spiritual and warlike lyrics, of which the battle hymn "Kdoz jste boil bojovnici" acquired great fame, and made a deep impression on the mind of a disciple of Hus, Peter Chelcicky (139o-146o). This Gothic spirit from the people was a radical critic, not only of the church, but of the whole social and cultural system. Spiritually he was akin to Rousseau and Tolstoy, and from his ideal of a restored Apostolic Church and the foundation of the Kingdom of God on earth sprang the wonderful Union of Bohemian Brethren. The Brethren were given a stable constitution by Brother Lukas at the end of the 15th century, and a primitive and anarchistic chiliasm was thus reconciled with the realities of life. The Union of Brethren then began to cultivate literature and science; mas tered the art of printing; studied educational methods; pursued historical researches; and cherished and developed the mother tongue.
The influences of the Renaissance are now discernible, but the humanities which penetrated into Bohemia from Italy seemed at first to be the privilege of the Roman Catholic nobility, of the emperor's diplomats and foreign officials, and resulted in a fur ther latinization of the literature. That a happy compromise was eventually reached between Latin and Czech culture may be seen from the masterly prose of Viktorin Kornel of Vsehrdy, who codified the ancient Czech laws. In Moravia at the same time Ctibor Tovacovsky of Cimburk was engaged on similar work. In the Union of Bohemian Brethren the reconciliation of Christianity and Humanism was achieved by the pious and scholarly Jan Blahoslav (15 23-71), who was an historian, gram marian, musical theorist and sacred poet. With his name is con nected the Brethren's greatest literary work, a masterly transla tion of the Scriptures, known as the Bible of Kralice, which was completed in 1588 and remains a perfect example of classical Czech.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the influence of the Renaissance spread through the nation, and Daniel Adam of Veleslavin 99), famous as a printer, literary man, orator, philologist and historian, may be mentioned as typical. During this age didactic prose flourished, and in addition to books of travel, historical works of all kinds abounded. These extended from the popular chronicle of Vaclav Hajek of Libocany to the psychological and pragmatic art of Bartos Pisar. Even during the period of decline two emigrants Pavel Skala of Zhore and Pavel Stransky main tained the old tradition. Drama, poetry and the novel were, how ever, utterly neglected.
In 162o, with the defeat on the White Hill of the rebellion against the emperor, the national schism was complete. On one side stood the victorious Roman Catholics ; on the other, the de feated Protestants. The latter soon emigrated and carried with them nearly the whole of Czech literary and scholastic culture. Among the emigrants was the last bishop of the Union of Brethren, Jan Amos Komenslcy (Comenius, 1592-167o), the great peda gogical reformer and language teacher. He was a devout Chris tian and a loyal Czech, as well as an ardent pansophist and a fore runner of the encyclopaedists. Like Hus, he was a great writer both in Czech and Latin, while his works, which show a strong foreign influence, reveal him as not only a philosopher and philolo gist, but as a poet. At the time of the Roman Catholic baroque Reformation a decline set in both in literature and language, which the efforts of the noble-minded clerical patriots, Bohuslav Balbin (1621-88), the learned historian, and Vaclav Steyer (163o-92 ), the popular teacher, were unable to stay.
Revival in the 18th and 19th Centuries.—Towards the end of the 18th century, when the Austrian Government sus pended the rights of the Czech State and by decree abolished the national language, it seemed that the gradual decline would become absolute ruin. A powerful revival set in, however, and the economic and social liberation of the country people gave new strength to the nation, while the enlightenment of Western Europe which penetrated into Bohemia strengthened this un expected re-awakening. The nobility now began to defend their own rights and those of the Czech State against the centralizing influence of Vienna, and the clergy resumed the efforts of their patriotic predecessors of the previous century. The historical and philological studies which scholars, trained by new methods, were now pursuing were soon used as weapons against the German izing efforts of the Government, and against the prevailing igno rance of the masses. Scholars and writers, who themselves had sprung from common stock, roused the people from their apathy, while Western science, coupled with Slavonic enthusiasm, de veloped in the Czech mind the sense of unity with the whole Slav race. The first stage of this collective movement, known as the National Awakening or Revival, which was contemporary with the enlightenment of France and Germany, belongs to the r8th century and is extremely modest. Apart from scientific works, in Latin and German, it consisted of efforts to publish literature and periodicals for the people. Josef Dobrovsky 1829), a systematic philologist and historian, and founder of Slavonic studies, wielded the greatest influence, and his study of past literature, of the philological kinship of the language with the other Slav tongues, and of the laws of prose and verse, re vealed an enlightened mind. His influence was very considerable, and bore fruit in the journalistic work of Vaclav Matej Kra merius, and in that of Antonin Jaroslav Puchmajer, the first Czech poet.
Influence of Romantic Movement.—It was, however, the Romantic movement in Europe at the beginning of the i9th cen tury, following upon the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, which set free the latent powers of the country and made the victory of the Czechoslovakian national revival complete. The importance of the national language was by now fully realized, and there was a general movement toward the serious cultivation of Czech science and poetry. A sense of history and tradition entered into the soul of the people, and an appreciation of nature, together with a growing emancipation of imagination and feeling, led to literature and poetry throwing off the chains of didacticism and entering the field of artistic creation. Three great historians and philologists, inspired by philosophy and love of poetry, were the leaders of this intellectual revolt, and their legacy remains the foundation of the culture of Czechoslovakia. The oldest of them, Josef Jungmann 0773-1847), the patriarch of Czech literature, who came from central Bohemia, is famous as a lexicographer, literary historian and critic of poetry, while his followers Pavel Josef Safafik (179S-1861) and Frantiuek Palack? (1798-1876) introduced new elements of Slovakian thought. The former elaborated Doorovsky's studies in the sphere of Slavonic history and ethnography; the latter, who rightly bears the name of "Father of the Nation," wrote popular philosophical works on Czech history, in which he presented an inspiring picture of the past, and also laid foundations for the political development that was to follow. Their common ideal of Czech classical poetry being recognized at its true worth was not for many years to be real ized, but a body of enthusiasts with Vaclav Hanka at their head resolved to follow "Ossian" Macpherson's example and manufac ture such poetry. Thus did the famous literary forgeries Rukopis KrdlovedvorskjI and Zelenohorsky originate, and though the imi tation of the language was poor, the poems were rich in feeling for the ancient heroic period of the nation. Real poets were soon forthcoming. The conception of Slavonic brotherhood was elo quently expressed by Jan Kollar (1793-18 5 2 ), a rhetorician, classical in style, who hailed from Slovakia, in the poetic allegory Sidvy dcera. In his footsteps followed Jan Holly an epic poet alive to the grandeur of the past. Next came Fran tisek Ladislav Celakovsky (1799-1852), a clever imitator of Czech and Russian native poetry, and Karel Jaromir Erben the writer of tragic moral ballads which, though more restricted in scope, were more intense in feeling. Karel Hynek Macha (1810-36), an imaginative poet whose verses are charm ingly melodious, followed a new romanticist path, leading to the metaphysical conflicts of modern man, but he did not live to maturity. The novel and the drama, which were still largely his torical, cannot compare in interest with this poetry, and even Josef Kajetan Tyl, the author of the national anthem, and Vaclav Kliment Klicpera were but popular writers of the day.
The Beginnings of Literary Realism.—In the '4os of the i9th century, the romantic era in Czech literature gradually drew to an end and was replaced by a period in which attempts were made to reproduce realistically the problems of contemporary public and social life. Literature now began consciously to at tempt to influence society. This general movement was con nected with the increasing political activity which occurred about the year 1848; with the democratic ideas of the age; and with the progress of journalism. National culture was however, handicapped by the separation of the "dialect" Slovak literature, which had been effected in by the ardent Slovak leader Ludevit Star. These new tendencies were personified in the classic Czech journalist, Karel HavlRek-Borovsky (1821-56), who was an excellent satirist, epigrammatist and critic ; in the sphere of the novel, Bozena Nemcova (182o-62), a master of idyllic narrative, played a similar part. It was not, however, until about the year 186o, which brought its measure of political free dom, that a young literary school, called the school of Maj, revolu tionized Czech poetry, conforming it to the new spirit of realism and social and moral reform. Leader of the group was Viterslav Halek (1835-74), the brilliant peasant-type psychologist and the author of love and nature poems. His friend Jan Neruda 91) was a prolific journalist, a melancholy lyric poet, a clever critic and a brilliant feuilleton writer, who with his keen gift for observation, his love of truth, his deep humanity and original style, laid the foundations of modern Czech literature. His in spiration is still alive to-day while the work of his intimate com panion, Adolf Heyduk, is forgotten. Jan Neruda in his critical capacity directed special attention to that branch of the novel and the drama which concerns itself with social problems. His action was fruitful. Karolina Svetla (183o-99), the idealist thinker and tragic authoress, dealt with moral problems in the novel, and her literary confreres, Gustav Pfleger Moraysky (1835-75), Jakub Arbes (184o-1914) and Antal Stasek , studied the life and environment of the working classes, and the problem of the discord between capital and labour. In originality of char acter drawing and effectiveness of style these, however, were all surpassed by Alois Vojtech Smilovsky (1837-83), the psychologist of the country town. In the world of drama, Emanuel Bozdech (1841-89) failed to emancipate himself from his French models, and continued to write witty comedies of intrigue, but Frantisek Venceslav Jefabek (1838-93) made good use of the realities of his native soil and produced impressive works.
National Tendencies and Artistic Aims.—In the '70s and '8os of the last century there appeared two independent literary groups of the schools of Neruda and Halek. One, named after the periodical Ruch, supported the tendency in contemporary politics to strengthen nationalist feeling, to recover old rights, and to foster friendly relations with the rest of the Slav race. The other, contributing to the magazine Lumir, worked for the ideal of literature for its .own sake, and demanded the incorporation of the thought and creative art of Western Europe in Czech literature. Both schools introduced into rhetorical poetry the element of meditation, both sacrificed sound to literary images, and led literature from popular simplicity to learned artificiality, which was popular among the educated classes.
Svatopluk ech (1846-1908), a follower of Byron and the Slav Byronic poets, an epic poet rich in colour and varied in music, master of the political song and eloquent preacher on poetic themes, was the most famous poet of the period. The poetess and critic Eliska Krasnohorska (1847-1926), the leader of Czech feminists, though inferior as a poet, was his equal in patriotic fervour. The depths of the Czech soul were plumbed by the lyric poet, Josef V. Sladek (1845-1912), who is famous as the translator of Shakespeare and of other English and American poets : master both of lyric and contemplative poetry, he wrote of love, faithfulness, death and eternity, for the most part in simple classical form. Though every manifestation of national life was persecuted by the Magyar Government, Slovakia pos sessed two ardent patriotic poets. The first, Svetozar Hurban Vajansky (1847-1916), the more vehement and less profound, wrote chiefly lyrical songs, while Hviezdoslav (Pavel Orszagh), an original thinker, wrote broad epics of the history of the race.
The historical novel, based on thorough historical research and devoted to the cultivation of patriotism, was by far the most popular product of the National school. Its pioneers were the elegiac and pathetic Vaclav Benes Trebizsky (1849-84) and Alois Jirasek (1851-1g30) whose studies of the Hussite Wars, of the national decline, and of the Revival period, all greatly detailed and yet wide in vision, are dear to every Czech from childhood. Nevertheless, in artistic force and delicacy of treat ment, he was surpassed by the archaic and pithy Zigmund Winter (1846-1912).
That the members of the other group, whom their opponents dubbed cosmopolitans by way of reproach, advocated the principle of "art for art's sake" was only a temporary self-deception ; that by their predilections for the cultures of France, Italy and Eng land they liberated Czech literature from the long tutelage of German influences was an undeniable service ; that they extended the scope of subjects, ideas and imagery was a token of their artistic powers. They derived new inspiration from the sea, from the fine arts, from feminine beauty; they learned to absorb the cultures of foreign countries and of bygone ages and to imitate the metrical forms employed by them ; they enriched the Czech poetical style with unprecedented verbal resources and obtained musical effects which had not hitherto been achieved in Czech verse.
Julius Zeyer (1841-1901), the elder of the two leaders of this group, was permeated by the Gothic spirit of the English pre Raphaelites. In novels, short stories, epics and dramas, he evoked the exotic colours of the East and the romantic tales of the middle ages. His younger companion, Jaroslav Vrchlicky (Emil Frida, 1853-1912), occupied two positions of equal significance in the literature of his nation. As a literary scholar of unrivalled erudi tion and as an adept at translation, this tireless worker made acces sible to the Czechs all the chief products of Romance poetry from the time of the Renaissance onwards. As a poet with the prolific qualities of a Lope de Vega, he was the author of a whole library of lyrics and epics as well as of dramas and stories. By nature he was a hedonist with predilections for classical antiquity and the Renaissance, but life awakened in him an instinct for suffering, sorrow and the Christian scale of values. As a pupil of Victor Hugo he dreamed of a huge epic of humanity, conceived on evolu tionary and humanitarian lines, half picturesque, half rhetorical in style, but this gigantic task was carried out only in fragments and in feverish haste, its progress having been interrupted by his lyric compositions, the melodious utterances from the depths of a spirit overwhelmed but also purified by the visitations of destiny. The incisive influence of Vrchlicky left its traces on the whole of Czech poetry during the '8os and '9os of the 19th century and his followers were numerous. Of them may be mentioned Jaroslav Kvapil (b. 1868), a master of stagecraft, who as a poet is distin guished by beauty of form.
Realism and the Reaction.—A violent reaction from Vrch licky is represented in the early works of scholarship and criticism produced by T. G. Masaryk, who later devoted himself wholly to politics. The new tendency was given the not altogether appro priate name of realism. Against the cult of personality it placed the social consciousness, against the charm of art the serious occu pation with public questions, against the interest in form the exclusive criteria of ideas and subject matter. It continued the process of emancipation from German influences, but it preferred the English and the Russians to the French. It disregarded the Renaissance and identified itself with the religious Reformation. It imposed upon authors the duty of studying the life around them, not merely on the surface, but in accordance with the ideas underlying it and of expressing the results of their observations in plain, concise language without adornment or rhetoric.
The chief poet who followed these principles was Josef Svato pluk Machar (b. 1864). He began with love poetry and politi cal or social verses, the pitilessly analytical spirit of which is provocative rather than satisfying. His striving after an objec tive attitude led him to a versified epic of mankind. This con sists of fragmentary poems, the best of which are concise and graphic, but the general tone of the work is dry and didactic. To his influence can be traced the work of a great political poet, Petr Bezruc (Vladimir Vasek, b. 1867), the author of only one book, the fiery spokesman of the Silesian miners, who is equally sincere whether enunciating the anguish of a dying race or rally ing the victims of social injustice to defiance.
Realism in Czech prose was satisfied mostly with the search for human documents and with the depicting of remarkable types.
More rarely it illuminates the complex questions affecting the social structure. This applies particularly to the village novel, which was then much in vogue. Two writers of the older genera tion must be mentioned here. The Slavophil author Josef Holecek (1853-1929) returned, by way of his interest in the Yugoslav heroic legends and Russian orthodoxy, back to the Czech peasant, from whose stock he was descended. In a novel which consisted of several volumes and which was written with great verbal skill, he depicted the old Czech peasant virtues in an idealistic light. Tereza Novakova (1853-1912), a very complex feminine person ality, achieved an understanding of the spirit of the people slowly, but she then discovered that the moody highland peasants, whom she knew, were, at bottom, animated by a moral and religious fervour which attained an almost tragic intensity. In her stories the idealism of the conception is coupled with a realism of treatment.
Jan Herben (b. 1857) and Alois Mrstik (1861-1924) wrote chronicle-like narratives, rich in incident, from which an invalu able knowledge of Moravia can be obtained, and the racy tales of Martin Kukucin (M. Benda-, 186o-1928) render the same service for Slovakia. They are surpassed by Karel V. Rais (1859 1926) whose sensitive sketches from the Krkonose (Giant Moun tains) district are distinguished by the economy of their structure. Considerable success was attained by the novel of city life, no tably with a Prague setting. Ignat Hermann (b. 1854) revealed a richly humorous vein in his descriptions of lower middle-class life in Prague. M. A. Simacek (186o-1913) gave first-hand ac counts of factory-life, for the sociological aspect of which he showed a sound instinct. F. X. Svoboda (b. 186o), who was of rural origin, but became acclimatized to Prague, handled fem inine psychology with poetical understanding, and his novels, written with an abundance of impressionistic imagery, generally centre upon some phase of moral or family tradition. All these authors, however, were thrown into the shade by the crude natural ist K. M. Capek-Chod (186o-192 7 ). With an unbridled instinct for grotesque effects and pessimistic mockery, he portrays present day Prague in a wealth of ruthless but faithful detail.
From the beginning of the 2oth century there was a manifest decline in realism. This transition to a more spiritualized art is associated with the name of F. X. Saida (1867-1937 ), creator of modern Czech criticism and a scholar who was, fundamentally, a poet. The change was first exhibited in lyric poetry which has always formed the leading feature of Czech literature. In the case of Antonin Soya (1864-1928), a master of melody and meta phor, his whole work reflects the reactions of an altogether un usually sensitive temperament to the solitude of nature, to its own emotions and to the many-sided social phenomena of modern life.
This sensitive reaction to the internal and external world is found also in the work of such diverse poets as Jifi Karasek ze, Lvovic (b. 1871), who has written elegiac verses of impeccable form and decadent subject-matter, Stanislav K. Neumann (b. 1875), eloquent and barbaric in his advocacy of unfettered in stincts, who extols rustling forests, flowing waters, amorous women and turbulent multitudes, and Karel Toman (Antonin Bernasek, b. 1877), admirably concise and suggestive in his melodious, pro foundly emotional verses. This sensitiveness forms only one of the elements in the personality of Ottokar Bfezina (Vaclav Jebavy, 1868-1929), whose lyric poetry was prompted by a cosmic con sciousness and exhibits a unique inventiveness of metaphor. In hymn-like poems, which are remarkable on account of their elab orate design and brilliant imagery, the poet, whose life was spent in philosophical seclusion, extols the flight of the soul through the universe to God and its return thence to the everyday world, clutched by myriads of praying and toiling hands. His influence is seen in the work of Otakar Theer (188o-1917), who in the end subordinated his sensual temperament to fertile ideas concerning will and suffering, eternity and God, patriotism and moral liberty. Viktor Dyk (187 7-1931), a poet who occupies a place apart, was closely attached to his nation as a living entity which uplifted him from nihilism and imparted a fervid charm to his simple and epigrammatic diction.
Novel and Drama.—In prose fiction the new sensitiveness made its appearance as a strengthening of the picturesque element, and later as an enhanced feeling for the subtleties of psychology, together with a close and sometimes exaggerated cultivation of style. It was on such lines as these that Vilem Mrstik (1863 1912) dealt with the unfettered destinies of youth, Ruiena Svo bodova, (1868-1920) with the sorrows, yearnings and dreams of modern women, Karel Sezima (Karel Kolar, 1876– ), with the tragic aspect of everyday life in small towns. Here also a reference should be made to Frana Sramek (1877– ), ecstatically revel ling in the beauty of the world and celebrating in luminous prose and also in melodious lyric poems the grief and enchantment of youth. More recently, however, the tendency of the Czech novel has been towards a simplification as regards style and emotional content, and it shows signs of becoming richer in ideas. Inspira tion is also being derived from the facts of science, and there is an obvious return towards realism. Thus, Anna Maria Tilschova (1873– ) is remarkably precise in analysing the decadence of urban society, while Karel Capek (189o-1938), a whimsical philos opher of the commonplace, combined phantasy with warmth and delicacy of sentiment.
Although the drama has always formed the height of Czech literary ambitions and although the handsome National Theatre, ever since its establishment in 1883, has been regarded as the supreme artistic institution, Czech drama did not thrive in the desired manner. Several of the authors who have already been mentioned tried their hands at writing for the stage. Vrchlicky and Zeyer produced scenic poems, the subject-matter of which was derived from myths and history ; LadisIav Stroupenicky (1850-92) applied the method of realistic genre in rural comedies and historical miniatures; Jirasek wrote dramatic chronicle-plays from Czech history or based upon legends and village life; F. X. Svoboda realistic dramas from the life of the contemporary bourgeoisie. But it is only quite recently that the Czech drama has developed greater briskness and a sense of reality, both as regards the problems chosen and the language in which they are treated. Jaroslav Hilbert (b. 1871) and Frantisek Langer (b. 1882) are skilful psychologists in the modified realistic man ner. Arnost Dvorak (188i-1932) handled historical subjects with picturesque elaboration ; Karel Capek, beneath whose satirical grimace was concealed the heart of an humanitarian, was a bold contriver of scenic utopias.
Scholarship.—Czech scholarship in the fields of history and linguistics kept close touch with literature from the beginning of the National Revival, and the work of Palacky and Jungmann exercised considerable influence. A direct follower of Palacky was Vaclav V. Tomek (1818-1905), the historian of the city of Prague, a tireless political historian and founder of the so-called Austrian history. With him was Josef Kalousek (1838-1913 ), the expert in Czech common law. In the '7os and '8os, Jaroslav Go11 (1848-1929'), an expert in critical method and the author of valuable studies on the Bohemian Brethren, gave a new di rection to Czech historical research, and was responsible for the training of three distinguished scholars: Josef Pekar (187o ), shown to be a man of originality of mind by his researches into economic history, popular legends, the National Revival, and the Hussite Wars; Josef Susta (1874– ), who has outlined the development of the Czechs against the hitherto neglected back ground of the history of Western Europe ; and finally Vaclav Novotny (186o-193 2 ), a student of the religious Reforma tion. Slavonic archaeology has been enriched by the studies of Lubor Niederle (b. 1865). The grammatical studies of Dobrov sky and Safafik were superseded by those of Jan Gebauer (1838 1907) who constructed a logical and systematic history of the Czech language upon the basis of the extensive material he had collected. This was later supplemented by the work of Frantisek Bartos (1837-1906), a Moravian who recorded and analysed the Moravian dialects. Philology and history were united in the work of Jaroslav Vlcek (186o-193o), the founder of modern lit erary history and an exponent of the ideas underlying the age of enlightenment. New light was thrown on the literature of the National Revival by Jan Jakubec (b. 1862), and Vaclav Fla j shans (b. 1866) is famous for his studies on the life and work of Jan Hus.
See Count Liitzow, A History of Bohemian Literature (1899) ; W. R. Morfill, Slavonic Literature (1883) ; F. Chudoba, A Short Sur vey of Czech Literature (1924) ; H. Jelinek, La Litterature tcheque contemporaine (1912) ; J. Jakubec and Arne Novak, Geschichte der Cechischen Literatur 0913). There are modern histories of Czecho slovakian literature written in the national language by Jar. Vlcek, Jan Jakubec and Arne Novak. (A. No.)