Ján Kollár

Ján Kollár ( Slovak) or czech January Kollár ( born July 29, 1793 Mošovce (Slovakia ), † 24 January 1852 in Vienna ) was one of the most important Central European poets and scholars of the early 19th century. Although Slovak who archaeologist and linguist wrote almost exclusively in Czech. He was a Protestant clergyman and an important person from the time of the language wars in the Kingdom of Hungary ( approximately first half of the 19th century ), to which Slovakia belonged.

Three of his great works aroused in Europe with an interest in Slavic history and culture and shaped the national movements of the Slavs to the present day: Kollar sonnets daughter of Sláva, his collections of Slovak folk poems and reclassified according to the model of Herder, Brentano and Achim von Arnim, and the investigation about the literary reciprocity between the different tribes and dialects of the Slavic nation ( 1837). His Pan-Slavic views were, however, criticized in his time already partially.

Life

Kollár went to high school Kremnica and Banská Bystrica and the Evangelical Lyceum in Bratislava. After he had worked for two years as an educator in Banská Bystrica, 1817-1819 he studied at the University of Jena philosophy and theology. During his studies in Germany he received from the Wartburg Festival impulses to engage in their own nation. He also visited Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Weimar, with him as well as with other people from Weimar shared a personal friendship. The second pulse for his involvement is due to the fact that he almost complete assimilation of the Sorbs in Germany saw what anxiety about the future of the Slavs awakened in him. He was already close during his studies of political romanticism and transferred their ideas to his home. He was, though he was not influenced politically and historically in his world view, a co-founder of Pan-Slavism. His most important work to O Literární vzájemnosti river made kmeny a nářečími slávskými. (On the literary similarities between Slavic tribes and dialects ), appeared in 1836.

His poems were also heavily influenced by his love for Friderike Schmidt, whom he had met in Jena and in 1835 married ( had before their parents do not want to allow her to go to the distant Hungary). 1819 to 1849 he was a minister of the newly established Protestant church in Pest. The community consisted of many nations and was marked by a lot of nationalism.

As part of the Slovak uprising, he worked as a shop steward for questions of the Slovaks with the government in Vienna. He was eventually together with Karol Kuzmány end of 1849 - was appointed full professor of Slavic archeology at the University of Vienna and government advisor for questions from the areas of languages ​​and education - as compensation for the substantial non-compliance of Slovak demands from the time of the Revolution. This was his profession until his death.

His remains, which were buried in the St. Marx Cemetery, were solemnly transferred in 1904 to the Czech National Cemetery at Vysehrad in Prague.

The birthplace of Jan Kollár was, with the exception of the stone granary, of wood. On August 16, 1863 spread to the tailor street in Mošovce a fire from, in addition to other houses also Kollar birthplace destroyed - the only surviving part of the building is the granary ( second door from the right). In this building, a museum was established in 1974 and reinstalled in 1982. Exposure sums up the life and works Kollar.

Work

As a poet he first came up with a collection of smaller Czech -written poems, Básně (poetry, 1821), which were confiscated in part by the Metternich - censorship.

The Básně are were later partially fashioned, as his major work entitled Slávy dcera ( daughter of Sláva 1824, gradually expanded in 1832, 1845, 1852, German selection subsidiary of Slava, in: Wreaths from the Bohemian poet garden edited by J. Wenzig ) appeared, in which he (and the Slavs ) by the German culture gave expression to his grief over the Verdrängtwerden the Sorbs and the Slavic past glorified.

This partly reminiscent of Goethe 's masterpiece was in its last version from a total of 645 sonnets, which were divided into a monumental pre -song and the songs " Sala ", " Elbe - Ren - Moldova ", " Danube ", " Lethe " (heaven) and " Acheron " ( hell). In " Sala " will love to Mina (actually Kollar Friederike ), the Slavic daughter of the mother Sláva (literally: glory, at the same time play on the word " Slavs " ), described and at the same time declares that the other half of the heart of the author of his home apply. In "Elbe - Ren - Moldova" we will, among other witnesses of the trip Kollar from Jena to Prague, with patriotic themes emerge ( Germanization of Slavic areas) and also the love of Mina. In " Danube", he travels from Prague to Bratislava, where he describes what he sees as typical characteristics of the Slavs, such as justice, desire for unification etc. In the reminiscent of Dante's Divine Comedy " Lethe " especially famous Slavic personalities are sung, with the author is accompanied by the goddess Sláva on Slavic sky. In " Acheron " are sent to the Slavic hell finally the enemies of the Slavs. The work was written in Czech with some Slovak elements.

Then followed the meritorious, huge songs collection of Slovak folk songs: narodnie Zpiewanky, čili písně světské ... (literally: Folk songs or secular songs ..., 1834-35 ). Previously he has worked with Pavol Jozef Šafárik at the písně světské lidu Slovenského v Uhrich Collection ( literally: Secular songs of the Slovak people in Hungary, 1823-1827 ) involved, which he had compiled at the suggestion of Goethe.

In his ( in expanded form also German ) written treatise O Literární vzájemnosti river made kmeny a nářěčími slavskými (On the literary reciprocity between the tribes and dialects of the Slavic nation from 1831 to 1836 ) he explains his pan-Slavic belief that there is a unified Slavic nation consisting of four " tribes " - the Russian, the Polish, the Illyrian and the Czech-Slovak. He explained herein theoretically the unity of the Slavic culture and had her under the influence of Herder's a humanizing mission.

Called by his numerous other works are the treatise on the merits of the Slavic people Dobré vlastnosti Narodu slovanského (literally: Good features of the Slavic Nation, 1822), his critical writing Neco o pomaďarčovaní Slovanú v Uhrách (literally: About Magyarization the Slavs in Hungary, ns ), its first pan-Slavic writing Jmenoslov čili Dictionary osobních Jmen rozličných kmenu a nářečí Narodu slavenského (literally nomenclature that is dictionary of person names of different tribes and dialects of the Slavic nation, 1830).

Kollár was also the author of numerous travel reports. Of his undertaken in the 1840s, traveling to Germany, northern Italy and Switzerland

After his death, his archaeological work on Italy Staroitalie ( The Slavonic Old Italy, 1853), in which he tried to prove that the Romans Slavs were, as well as his autobiography Paměti z mladších let života ( appeared slavjanská literally memories from younger years, 1863).

His collected works ( with the autobiography of the poet ) published, for example, in four volumes in Prague (2nd edition, 1868, recent data: ns ).

Other works and his attitude to the Slovak language

Since Kollár advocated the theory that there is a single Czech-Slovak tribe, he was also against all attempts of other Slovaks to establish the Slovak as an independent literary language. Although he advocated an approach to the Moravian and Slovak dialects and tried in his earlier works to include Slovak Czech elements into his so that the two languages ​​as possible to find each other, and stressed the euphony of the Slovak. Nevertheless, especially in the textbooks for Slovak schools this Czech was with Slovak elements ( Čítanka ( reading book, 1825), Šlabikář ( Primer, 1826 ) and the new edition of the Slávy dcera of 1835), a far cry from today's Slovak standard language.

His folk song collections were one of the impulses of the group to Ľudovít Štúr to raise the Central Slovak dialect of Slovak language, but Kollár refused explicitly and put that view in a rally against the Slovak language, which contains his contributions and contributions of like-minded and under the title Hlasové o potřebě Jednoty spisovného jazyka per Bohemia, Moravany a Slováky ( voices on the need for a unified written language for the Bohemian, Moravians and Slovaks, 1846) was published, in a very aggressive manner dar. After the revolution of 1848/ 1849 in the Slovaks had fought for the Habsburgs in Vienna against the Hungarian rebels, the Austrian Government, the Slovak decided as a reward for the Slovaks, partly as an official language for schools to allow lower courts etc.. Kollár was commissioned to create such an official language, which he introduced the so-called Altslowakische ( staroslovenčina ) but was - despite the name - largely identical to the Czech. This artificial official language was in fact only to 1852 in use, as the Slovak grammar of Martin Hattala appeared, his official status kept it until 1859.