The Soul Of A Century/Svatopluk Cech
SVATOPLUK CECH
(1846–1908)
Svatopluk Cech was born February 21, 1846 and died February 23rd, 1908. For a while after completing his studies of law, Cech worked in a law office but in the year 1879, together with his brother he founded an illustrated monthly, and this journalistic venture ended his legal career. His formal schooling Cech enhanced by extended travels to the Balkans, to England and Denmark and in 1895, following a sudden surge of popularity, the modest retiring author fled to Italy for a valuable sojourn. Svatopluk Cech may well be likened to Russia’s Pushkin, to Poland’s Mickiewicz or the French Lamartine, for his work embodies the prophetic undertones of these inspirational writers. Although a product of Kollar’s Slavonic Byronism, Cech quickly freed himself from its confining influence and developed an individual refreshing style in prose and verse as well. Among his best known poetic works are the Songs of a Slave, a masterfully concealed protest against the contemporary spiritual enslavement of his people, and a group of epic poems of historical significance.