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Karel Havlíček Borovský: The Slav and the Czech
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KAREL HAVLÍČEK BOROVSKÝ: THE SLAV AND THE CZECH Title: Slovan a Čech (The Slav and the Czech) Originally published: First published in Pražské noviny, 15 February–12 March 1846 Language: Czech Excerpts used are from ‘The Danger of Pan-Slavism’, in Hans Kohn, ed., Nationalism : Its Meaning and History (London and New York: Nostrand Reinhold, 1965), pp. 155–59. Originally published in Hans Kohn, The Mind of Modern Russia (New Brunswick, N.J. Rutgers University Press, 1955), pp. 83–90. About the author Karel Havlíček Borovský [1821, Borová near Přibyslav (Ger. Primislau, eastern Bohemia) – 1856, Prague]: journalist, writer and politician. Havlíček was born to a Roman Catholic merchant family. He studied philosophy at Prague where he became acquainted with Czech nationalism and Pan-Slav ideas. He entered the seminary but was expelled in 1841. He left Prague, moving first to Upper Hungary and Galicia and later to Russia, where he was engaged as a tutor in the family of the Russian Slavophile historian S. P. Shevyriov. During his stay in Moscow he was cured of his Pan-Slav fantasies, as is clearly apparent in his stories ‘Scenes from Russia.’ After his return to Prague he became acquainted with František Palacký, who appointed him as the editor-in-chief of the only Czech daily, Pražské noviny (Prague News) in 1846. In 1848 Havlíček became involved in the political activities of the Czech liberals as a member of the National Committee and as a deputy to the Imperial Diet. He defended the existence of the Austrian state, though he advocated its transformation into a constitutional monarchy and federation. To promote this purpose he founded his own Národní noviny (National news) in April 1848, which became the most influential Czech daily in the revolutionary years. At the same time, he was critical towards the radical democrats, whom he held responsible for the Prague May uprising that hindered the convocation of the country’s Diet, the main aim of the liberals. After the dissolution of the Kremsier Diet, Havlíček’s newspapers turned against the government and were banned in 1850. He moved to Kutná Hora, where he started to publish a weekly Slovan (The Slav) that was banned a year later. In December 1851 Havlíček was arrested and sent to internal exile in the Tyrolean town of Brixen (It. Bressanone). Released in 1855, he died a year later of tuberculosis. He soon became an icon of Czech national martyrdom. Besides journalism, Havlíček 250 THE NATIONALIZATION OF SPACE wrote satirical epic poems and epigrams that were published only after 1861 and that became part of the Czech literary canon. Nowadays, Havlíček is perceived as the founder of modern political journalism in Bohemia and as one of the most original Czech liberal thinkers. Main works: Obrazy z Rus [Scenes from Russia] (1843–1846); Duch Národních novin [The spirit of the National News] (1851); Epištoly kutnohorské [Letters from Kutná Hora] (1851); Křest sv. Vladimíra [The baptism of St Vladimir] (1861, 1867); Tyrolské elegie [Tyrolean elegies] (1861); Král Lávra [King Lávra] (1870). Context The ‘Slav idea’ was present from the very beginning of the modern Czech national movement, but its content changed in the course of time. After the scholarly interest of Josef Dobrovský at the turn of the nineteenth century, Ján Kollár’s cultural concept of a Slav nation predominated in the first decades of the nineteenth century (see Ján Kollár, The Daughter of Sláva). Although not every patriot who wanted to revive the Czech language was a devotee of ‘Slav reciprocity’, Kollár’s idea became generally accepted. In the period of the political differentiation among the Czech bourgeoisie (during the 1830s and 1840s), however, and as a result of the Russian suppression of and repercussions after the 1830/31 Polish uprising, this vague Kollárian Pan-Slavism was challenged. With Havlíček’s ‘The Slav and the Czech’, the Austro-Slav idea made its first appearance in Czech political thought. After his disillusionment with political life and social reality in the Russian monarchy, Havlíček came to the conclusion that Czech Pan-Slavism was just a dangerous dream brought about by fear of German predominance rather than a recognition of real political possibilities . The essence of his thinking was the belief that a strong Austrian state, once it had carried out substantial political and social reforms, would offer the...