Abstract
In the modern era, the institution of literature is being reconceived across Europe as a national institution. But the new paradigm of national literatures requires a remaking of literary discourse, including the transformation of critical terminology, and this results in literary discourse becoming politicized. By analyzing the history of the term libozvučnost (melodiousness) in the Czech national literary revival, David L. Cooper demonstrates how this seemingly innocent literary term became a political lightening rod for friends pursuing the same national program. This strongly suggests that, in the formative era of national literatures, using literary issues to discuss politics is not simply a matter of instrumentalizing literary criticism for covert political activity but that discussing literary values is directly political. The example of libozvučnost also reveals how the "borrowed" discourses of Romanticism and nationalism were fundamentally remade to respond to the modern Czech situation.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 301-320 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Slavic Review |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2008 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cultural Studies
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Cite this
Competing languages of Czech nation-building : Jan Kollár and the melodiousness of Czech. / Cooper, David L.
In: Slavic Review, Vol. 67, No. 2, 01.01.2008, p. 301-320.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Competing languages of Czech nation-building
T2 - Jan Kollár and the melodiousness of Czech
AU - Cooper, David L.
PY - 2008/1/1
Y1 - 2008/1/1
N2 - In the modern era, the institution of literature is being reconceived across Europe as a national institution. But the new paradigm of national literatures requires a remaking of literary discourse, including the transformation of critical terminology, and this results in literary discourse becoming politicized. By analyzing the history of the term libozvučnost (melodiousness) in the Czech national literary revival, David L. Cooper demonstrates how this seemingly innocent literary term became a political lightening rod for friends pursuing the same national program. This strongly suggests that, in the formative era of national literatures, using literary issues to discuss politics is not simply a matter of instrumentalizing literary criticism for covert political activity but that discussing literary values is directly political. The example of libozvučnost also reveals how the "borrowed" discourses of Romanticism and nationalism were fundamentally remade to respond to the modern Czech situation.
AB - In the modern era, the institution of literature is being reconceived across Europe as a national institution. But the new paradigm of national literatures requires a remaking of literary discourse, including the transformation of critical terminology, and this results in literary discourse becoming politicized. By analyzing the history of the term libozvučnost (melodiousness) in the Czech national literary revival, David L. Cooper demonstrates how this seemingly innocent literary term became a political lightening rod for friends pursuing the same national program. This strongly suggests that, in the formative era of national literatures, using literary issues to discuss politics is not simply a matter of instrumentalizing literary criticism for covert political activity but that discussing literary values is directly political. The example of libozvučnost also reveals how the "borrowed" discourses of Romanticism and nationalism were fundamentally remade to respond to the modern Czech situation.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0037677900023548
DO - 10.1017/S0037677900023548
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:44849108616
VL - 67
SP - 301
EP - 320
JO - Slavic Review
JF - Slavic Review
SN - 0037-6779
IS - 2
ER -