Late Enlightenment: Emergence of the Modern 'National Idea'

Back Cover

Edited by Balázs Trencsényi and Michal Kopeček Volume One: Late Enlightenment – Emergence of the Modern ‘National Idea’ D i s c o u r s e s o f C C o o l l l l e e c c t t i i v v e e I I d d e e n n t t i i t t y y i n C e n t r a l a n d S o u t h e a s t E u r o p e ( 1 7 7 0 - 1 9 4 5 ) D i s c o u r s e s o f C C o o l l l l e e c c t t i i v v e e I I d d e e n n t t i i t t y y i n C e n t r a l a n d S o u t h e a s t E u r o p e ( 1 7 7 0 1 9 4 5 ) Volume One Late Enlightenment – Emergence of the Modern ‘National Idea’ This volume represents the first in a series of four books that contain the most important texts that shaped the processes of nation-building in Central and Southeast Europe. The series aims to integrate the history of these cultures with that of general European civilization. Thus it counteracts the habit whereby European intellectual phenomena and historical movements are generally analyzed where they originated and experienced their earliest and most intensive development while the peculiar manifestations of these currents in the ‘Other Europe’ are neglected. This book contains 44 texts from national cultures that now occupy over a dozen modern European states from Albania to Poland. The pieces range from poems to essays, from (extracts of) academic treatises to letters. Each text is accompanied by a presentation of the author, and by an analysis of the context in which the respective work was born. The structure of the book and its inherent comparative perspective endeavors to go beyond individual national histories and offer a regionally sensitive framework of interpretation. The present volume is covering the Enlightenment period of these cultures, ranging roughly from the late-18th to the mid-19th century. It proves that the shades of nineteenth-century nationalism in Central and Southeast Europe can be traced back to what was, apparently, an unprejudiced quest to unite the talents and the commitment of men as reasonable and sociable beings in the service of improvement. FORTHCOMING: Vol. II, National Romanticism – The Formation of National Movements Vol. III, Modernism – Creating National States Vol. IV, Anti-Modernism – Radical Revisions of Collective Identity Budapest – New York Sales and information: ceupress@ceu.hu Website: http://www.ceupress.com ISBN 963-7326-52-9 Central European University Press ABOUT THE EDITORS Balázs Trencsényi is Assistant Professor of History at the Central European University, Budapest. Michal Kopeček is Research Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary History, Prague. CONTENTS General Introduction: Inter-texts of identity Introduction by László Kontler and Paschalis Kitromilides Texts by Ivan Lovrić; Iosipos Moisiodax ; Daniil Philippidis and Grigorios Constantas; Johann Pezzl; Stanislaw Staszic; Josef Dobrovský; Dinicu Golescu; Joakim Vujić; Pashko Vasa; Joseph von Sonnenfels; Franciszek Salezy Jezierski; Józef Wybicki; Adamantios Korais; György Bessenyei ; Ján Hrdlička; Antonín Puchmajer ; Petru Maior; Ion BudaiDeleanu ; Ivan Seliminski; I·brahim Şinasi; Alois Blumauer; Karel Thám; Dimitrios Katartzis; Dositej Obradovic ́; Josip Voltić; József Kármán; Bernard Bolzano; Neofit Rilski; Partenij Zografski; Naum Veqilharxhi; Joseph Richter; József Hajnóczy; Tadeusz Kościuszko; Alojzy Feliński; Rigas Velestinlis; Patriarch Anthimos; Tomo Bassegli; D - ord̄e Petrović; Naum Râmniceanu; Mustafa Reşid Paşa; Ivan Frano Jukić This, until now, unfortunate people, I say, seeing that all its sorrow and pain, its daily tears, its annihilation derive from the bad and most vile government , from the lack of good laws, has resolved, taking courage once again to gaze up at the sky, to bravely raise its burdened shoulders and, furiously arming itself with the weapons of revenge and desperation, to shout out loudly before the whole of the world, with a thunderous cry, the holy and immaculate rights, which are Godgiven , to live quietly upon the earth. Therefore, so that all the inhabitants may unanimously and continuously compare, with a watchful eye, the actions of the government of the rulers, with a...