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Jakub Deml is stereotypically labelled as a "Catholic poet". Therefore, his temporary involvement in the progressivist, anti-clerical Sokol ("Falcon") movement caused, and it is still causing, an embarrassment for many interpreters. The present article does not apply any normative criteria. Instead, it attempts to describe the way Jakub Deml realizes his "ressourcement", namely: how does he combine certain Christian cultural motifs and symbols, which he has kept from his "pre-Sokol" period, with the "new" Sokol system of signs, values, and authoritative names? In the following step, the role of Greek antiquity in Deml's four "Sokol" books (1923-1926) is analysed. Antiquity was crucial for the Sokol ideology, particularly for Miroslav Tyrš, the founder of Sokol, who was celebrated by Deml in a hagiographic way. Antiquity only holds, however, a surprisingly limited place in Deml's relevant texts. The list of explicit "Greek" motifs appears to be quite short. Deml shares with Sokol ideology, however, certain values, viewed by them (as by other progressivist movements) as stereotypically "Greek" and implicitly anticlerical (but not anti-Christian): personal freedom, earthliness, a healthy body, an emotional relationship to a specific local community. Deml's Sokol involvement did not last long. After several years, it ended with a dramatic break. Nonetheless, it provides an important literary testimony to the intellectual and spiritual openness of Czechoslovak society in the early 1920s, making such unexpected encounters possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Výklad na Zjevenie sv. Jana (Exposition on the Revelation to St.John), written by Jakoubek of Stříbro, is the most extensive theological treatise written in Czech during the period of early Hussite radicalism at the beginning of the 1420s. With this work, Jakoubek attempted to put Czech on an equal footing with Latin within the theological reformist discourse. This study examines the character ofjakoubek's Výklad, its significance in the context of Bohemian Latin and Czech theological discourses, and its impact on later, mainly Latin, works. It also establishes that we are not dealing with a later translation, but that Výklad na Zjevenie was originally written in Czech. Jakoubek in this text constructed a counterpoint to the radical apocalyptic visions rooted in diverse exegetical approaches. The focus of his attention - polemically and propagandistically - was primarily the reception of the Eucharistic Communion sub utraque specie. Jakoubek's commentary later influenced Hussite theological thought, one of the clearest examples being the Latin Expositio super Apocalypsim written by the Táborite theologian Nicholas of Pelhřimov in 1429-1430. Nicholas adopted not only Jakoubek's exegetical method but also some of his approaches to the polemical themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Czech exile authors turn to ancient inspiration after 1948. The antiquity often serves as a projection of exile situation (Odysseus) or as pars pro toto of traditional European culture, perceived by the exile writers as their defense wall. Ivan Jelínek (1909-2002) moreover originally transformed ancient inspirations at motivic level. He sings praises of ancient godesses and heroines as archetypes of Virgin Mary. Sacred womb represents the central topos of Jelínek's comparison between Greek mythology, Catholicism and poetically transformed personal experience. Also, Jelínek calls his poems “odes”, referring to the ancient genre celebrating sacred subjects. He applies this principle of ancientCatholic comparison and this genre in numerous volumes, following his travels across the Mediterranean. Gradually, his poetry becomes a sort of “travelogue” in the tradition of Grand Tour. In the final phase of his literary work, the Catholic motifs recede. The antiquity, instead, continues to be used as poet's basic cultural matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the works of Professor Alexandr Stich (1934-2003) devoted to the literature of the Early Modern era (especially the Baroque). This influential literary historian, linguist and textual critic turned his attention to Baroque literature mainly after 1989, and it remained at the centre of his interest until his death. The article delineates the various areas of Stich's research into 16th-18th century literature (evaluative surveys, synthetic studies, interpretations of individual works, studies of motifs manifesting themselves in various eras of literary history). The author analyzes Stich's 'linguistic-literary' method which combines literary history with linguistic methodology, placing it in the context of traditional philological research and studies of literary stylistics. Stich's focus on the interpretation of texts and his analysis of key motifs of Baroque literature is assessed alongside his application of newer trends incorporating the external contexts of literary works (cultural studies, New Historicism). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bohemian dreambook written at the turn of the fifteenth century by Laurentius de Březová (c. 1370-c. 1437) is an example of a medieval vernacular translation of one of the most important European oneiromantic manuals, the so-called Oneirocrition of Achmet, originally writ- ten in Greek in the tenth century by an anonymous author and translatedinto Latin in the late twelfth century by Leo Tuscus. Compared to other known vernacular renditions of the work, Laurentius’s version seems to follow its model relatively faithfully and the majority of the changes in the Czech text can be explained by the translator’s ambition to improve the original work rather than alter it. Apart from Leo Tuscus’s dedication of the translation to his brother Hugo Eterianus and a handful of chapters from the dream manual itself, the Czech version contains all the sections of the Latin text. Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Bohemian author is his own lengthy introduction to the work, advocating oneiromancy in the late-medieval moral-theological context. The Czech translation, surviving in two fifteenth-century manuscripts (one deposited at the Moravian Library in Brno, call sig. MK 14, the other at the Moravian Archive in Brno, collection sig. G 10, MS no. 412), seems to be based on a fourteenth-century Latin manuscript deposited at the Library of St. Vitus Metropolitan Chapter House in Prague (call sig. L 61). A definite judgement concerning the relationship of the two works will, however, only be established after a minute comparison of the Latin and Czech texts. The quality of the execution of the Prague Latin MS, suggesting a rich patron, and the background of the Czech translator, who was affiliated with the Bohemian court of the time, might be of great significance for establishing the manner in which the Oneirocriticon was transmitted and received in medieval Europe and determining its original reading audience. A possibility remains open that the Czech translation was dedicated to the Bohemian and Roman King Wenceslaus IV (1378-1419, 1376-1400, respectively). The present study conducts a preliminary historical and textual analysis of the Czech translation, designed as a first step towards a critical edition of the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Czech Catholic authors turn to ancient inspirations at the end of the 1960's, after twenty years of exclusion from literature (Václav Renč, Kiement Bochořák, Vladimír Vokolek, Josef Kostohryz). The antiquity often serves as a "neutral" visual and imaginary space that does not arouse suspicion of communist censors, but in which Christian worldviews, that cannot be expressed directly, can be projected disguisedly, and more or less enciphered. Josef Kostohryz (1907-1987) moreover originally transformed ancient inspirations at motivic and versological levels. At the motivic level, Kostohryz is concerned with the themes of fate and evil in the world. His books of poetry from the 1960's to 1980's depict the world as a scene of metaphysical drama of the powers of chaos against the powers of order. The powers of order are symbolized by female characters whose names refer predominantly to the antiquity - Parca, Ariadne, Eurydice, Muse, Medusa. The subject holds fragmentary conversations with them. Through these conversations and partly through mutual anagnorisis finally all these characters fuse in understanding that it is all about one character only - about one "stern image", about the symbol of Fate. Parca, the foreteller of fate, occupies a central place. The motif of Parca also bears an aspect of irony regarding the poet's own literary beginnings linked to "poésie pure" in the spirit of Paul Valéry, for whom Parca was an emblematic figure. At the versological level, Kostohryz is inspired by ancient metre. He does not accept them as ready-made models, but uses them as an inspiration for his own versological experiments with which he had started even before he turned to antiquity - when his main source of inspiration was the verse of Otokar Březina. In Kostohryz's books of poetry one can find regular inspiration by the elegiac distich, by hexameter and in some cases by other forms (Sapphic strophe). However, Kostohryz makes his verse of hexametrical cadence shorter or longer by one or even two feet. His aim is not to imitate ancient metre, but to find a "narrow path" between formal freedom of the avant-garde and rigidity of neoclassical poetry. His verses oscillate between the syllabical principle and the tonal principle, between the orality of Březina's style and the "Antique" declamation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correspondence between Jaroslav Vlček and Jan Jakubec in 1898-1899 is a unique and hitherto neglected source regarding the history of Czech literary historiography. At the very end of the 18th century there were increased attempts to establish literary history as a discipline separate from the philological sciences. An important step in this process was the institutionalization of the field, which meant above all the establishment of an independent university department and scholarly journal. Jaroslav Vlček completed his habilitation in 1898 in the history of Czech literature in the Czech part of Charles-Ferdinand University, while in late 1898 and early 1899, Jan Jakubec spent a semester at the universities in Vienna and Berlin. In their letters from this period it is possible to follow in detail their efforts to emancipate the field to which they had devoted their lives. Jakubec's international experience brought new critical impulses to their work and inspired him to write a programmatic essay, Organizujeme práci na prospěch novočeské literatury (Let Us Organize Work for the Benefit of New Czech Literature), in which Jakubec introduced the project of research-based literary scholarship including the establishment of a scholarly journal. Obzor literární a umělecký (Literary and Artistic Purview) was prepared by both literary historians as a tribunal for their field that would function as the Český časopis historický (Czech Historical Journal) did for history. However, due to pressure from the publisher, it became instead more of an arts-critical review. Their scholarly ambitions could only be fulfilled in the journal Listy filologické (Philological Pages), which Vlček co-edited, but philology clearly dominated in that publication. Literary history asserted itself there only gradually and with great difficulty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the 16th century Czech printed literature about the plague shows clear links, both thematic and compositional, with the older tradition of the scholastic medical literature. Treatises about the plague are based on the sex res non naturales theoretical framework that was still applied in the 16th century. Towards the end of the century, however, the scheme starts to give way to lists of collective safety recommendations. This emphasis on collective security (of the town or the community) appears to be a new trend of the time, at least as far as literature on the plague is concerned. Medical doctors no longer focus on the risky life-style of individuals, but rather persuade the community to take measures preventing the spread of the disease. In this connection the work of Martin Řepanský should be mentioned as one of the most progressive writings on the topic, influenced by the theory of contagion, according to which the plague is spread by small particles. The dialogue about the plague written by Jan z Bakova shows that religious authorities and medical doctors may have had conflicting views on the aetiology and prevention of the plague. Through one of his characters, a peasant, Jan z Bakova sharply criticizes the doctors and rejects their claim that the disease is infectious. This protest can be explained as a reaction to quarantine measures that precluded contact between believers and their pastors, including the holy communion. If the plague were not infectious, no such measures would be needed. The opposite standpoint is defended by Jan Kocín z Kocinétu who claims that the plague is one of many infectious diseases and its causes are natural. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]