Publication details
O Masarykovi
| Title in English | On Masaryk |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Monograph |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | On Masaryk Some of the problems that T. G. Masaryk dealt with after his arrival to Prague in 1882 concerned science and literature. In his work On the Study of Works of Poetry (1884) he expressed the idea that literary work is a special method of knowledge of the world and he was convinced that it was the highest knowledge, empirical knowledge, immediate knowledge of things in themselves that can reach the essence. He thought it was exact, even the most exact knowledge and its object was man. However, Masaryk quickly turned to those forms of art that could express the main ideas of the era and bring their solutions. Art and specifically literature should deal with essential questions of life. They should lead moral wars. Masaryk placed an emphasis on morally-sociological evaluation and expression of national values. In 1880s he dealt extensively with Czech science as shown in his work How to Cultivate Our Educational Literature (1885) - an interesting report on the state of the idea of the development of science of the day Masaryk dealt with the character and work of Jan Hus in his book Jan Hus (1896), and in a number of papers, publicist presentations and speeches. Yet he never put his mind to the past (and thus not even to Jan Hus) for historys sake. On the contrary, he was interested in it always when he by way of his (often peculiar) interpretations of it could speak to the present. Hus represented for Masaryk 1. a religious thinker and reformer; 2. an important personage in his philosophy of the Czech history; 3. a part of the political struggles Masaryk lead for emancipation of the Czech nation. The relations between T. G. Masaryk and F. X. Šalda changed in a certain way from the 1890s till 1930s. A special attention is paid to the beginning of 1890s when Šalda formulated his theoretical program, also in his polemics with Masaryks revue The Time. We focus as well on the turn of 1895/1896 when Šalda reviewed Our Contemporary Crisis by Masaryk, and on Masaryks critique of Šaldas novel The Puppets and Workers of God, and on Šaldas critique of The World Revolution by Masaryk. |
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