JAROSLAV VRCHLICKY AND HIS
PLACE IN BOHEMIAN DRAMA[1]
‘And what is the ultimate gain? Our hearts grow weary, our souls commonplace. Were it not for books and work, how could we ever live thru it all. . .’—Vrchlicky.
AS the modern Bohemian literature dates from the epoch of European revolutions of ’48, the prolific pen of Jaroslav Vrchlicky was due somewhat to the literary demand of a newly awakened nation. His predecessors in the drama had paved the way for him at a sacrifice of personal freedom to them, and the cost of starvation. When the Slav will prevail in the world, and the story of the Czechs will be recounted by foreign students of letters, the daring and enthusiasm of the young dramatist, Joseph Kaietan Tyl, will earn the tribute which properly belongs to him. Ordered to disband his troupe of actors, driven out of Prague, forbidden by the authorities to perform plays in the Bohemian tongue anywhere in Bohemia, this actor-playwright wrote his playlets in garrets and fields, and performed them in villages by candlelight, with marionettes before the newly-freed Serfs. Marionettes would hardly be suitable for a production of Strindberg before a modern audience, yet to a mind with an imagination which is not overtaxed, the dolls represent all emotions of character. The marionette has of late lost its place on the English-speaking stage, as though its use prevented a purely artistic production. This is an error. In
- ↑ See in the Autumn, 1913, number of Poet Lore, the Introduction to Vrchlicky’s ‘At the Chasm.’
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