The originality or worldliness of Czech literature? Magazine polemic in the period when the Májovci were appearing on the Czech cultural scene

Abstract

This paper deals with the situation in the mid-nineteenth century when periodicals of the day featured heated discussions about national literature and a broader European context. This period of Czech literary history overlaps with the appearance of the Májovci [the "May School"], more precisely precedes it slightly. The study is based on the relevant chapter in Ivo Říha's monograph Možnosti četby. Karolina Světlá v diskurzu literární kritiky druhé poloviny 19. století [Possible readings. Karolina Světlá in critical literary discourse of the second half of the nineteenth century] (Červený Kostelec: Pavel Mervart, 2012).