Publication details
Recepce díla Kristijonase Donelaitise v českých zemích
| Title in English | The Reception of Donelaitis' Work in Czech Lands |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Baltské jazyky v proměnách metod |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Linguistics |
| Keywords | Donelaitis; Janáček; Lithuanian literature; Baltic studies |
| Description | Kristijonas Donelaitis was one of the crucial authors of the old Lithuanian literature. His epical poem Metai (The Seasons) stands at the very beginning of Lithuanian belles-lettres and remains an important source of cultural and linguistic studies. The reception of Donelaitis' texts in Czech lands begins after the first edition of his poem, which was published in 1818 by Ludwig Rhesa in Königsberg. Czech writer František Ladislav Čelakovský (1799 - 1852) mentioned Donelaitis and The Seasons in his letters to Vlastimil Kamarýt in 1824. He intended even to translate some fragments into Czech, but there is no evidence whether he ever realized this plan. During the 19th century, Donelaitis was mentioned in Czech philological sources several times (Slovník naučný, 1865; Ottův slovník naučný, 1893; journal Osvěta 1874 etc.), but always only as a part of a broader analysis of Lithuanian literature. The first Czech study dedicated exclusively to Donelaitis was the doctor thesis of Karel Janáček Přízvukování u Donalitia (Donalitius' Accentuation), which was defended at Masaryk University in Brno in 1928. Unfortunately, this significant work has never been published and remained unknown for Baltic linguistics until 2007, when discovered again by V. Šeferis. Very significant moment in the reception of Donelaitis' work has been the translation of The Seasons into Czech. In 1955 a small fragment of Donelaitis' poem appeared in Praha - Moskva Journal translated by Julie Nováková. In 1959 another short extract (translated by Hana Jechová) was published in the anthology named Pod baltským nebem. Finally, the translation of the poem in full (also by Hana Jechová) was published in 1960. However, the analysis of the background of these publications shows that the initiative for these translations initially came from Pavel Trost - a prominent Czech linguist and leading professor of Baltic studies. The more precise description of his Baltic-related initiatives in late 1950s still remains to be elaborated. |
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