Ján Kollár

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Ján Kollár

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

Three of his great works aroused an interest in Slavic history and culture in Europe and shaped the national movements of the Slavs to the present day: Kollár's sonnets, Daughter of Sláva , his collections of Slovak folk poems and songs based on the models of Herder , Brentano and Achim von Arnim , as well as the study On the literary reciprocity between the different tribes and dialects of the Slavic nation (1837). His Pan-Slavist views were, however, partially criticized even in his day.

Life

The house where Jan Kollars died from 1849 to 1852 in the Vienna Ungargasse 5, corner of Beatrixgasse

Kollár attended the grammar schools of Kremnica and Banská Bystrica as well as the Evangelical Lyceum in Pressburg . After working as an educator in Banská Bystrica for two years, he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Jena from 1817 to 1819 . During his studies in Germany he received impulses from the Wartburg Festival to get involved in his own nation. He also visited Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Weimar, with whom he and other personalities from Weimar had a personal friendship. The second impulse for his commitment can be traced back to the fact that he saw the almost complete assimilation of the Sorbs in Germany , which aroused in him fear for the future of the Slavs. Already during his studies he was close to political romanticism and transferred its ideas to his homeland. With this he became a co-founder of Pan-Slavism , although his worldview was not politically but historically shaped . His most important work on this, O literární vzájemnosti mezi kmeny a nářečími slávskými . ( On the literary similarities between Slavic tribes and dialects ), appeared in 1836.

His poems were also very much influenced by his love for Wilhelmine Friedericke Schmidt (called Mina ), whom he had met in Jena in 1817 and only married in 1835 (before that, her parents had not wanted to allow her to go to far-away Hungary ). From 1819 to 1849 he was a preacher in the newly founded Protestant community in Pest . The community consisted of many nations and was marked by a lot of nationalism .

Kollár's grave in Prague

As part of the Slovak uprising , he worked as a shop steward for questions of the Slovaks at the government in Vienna . At the end of 1849 he and Karol Kuzmány were finally appointed full professor of Slavic archeology at the University of Vienna and government advisor for questions in the fields of languages ​​and schools - as compensation for the extensive non-fulfillment of Slovak demands from the time of the revolution . This was his job until his death.

His remains, which were buried in the St. Marx Cemetery , were ceremonially transferred to the Olšany Cemetery in Prague in 1904 .

With the exception of the stone granary , the house where Jan Kollár was born was made of wood. On August 16, 1863, a fire broke out in Tailor Street in Mošovce, which destroyed other houses as well as Kollár's birthplace - the only remaining part of the building is the granary (second door from the right). A museum was set up in this building in 1974 and reinstalled in 1982. The exposition sums up the life and works of Kollár.

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As a poet, he first appeared with a volume of smaller poems written in Czech, Básně (“Poems”, 1821), some of which were confiscated by the Metternich censorship.

The Básně were later partially revised when his main work under the title Slávy dcera (Daughter of Sláva, 1824, successively expanded 1832, 1845, 1852, German selection Daughter of Slavs ; in: Kränze aus dem Bohemian Poets' Garden edited by J. Wenzig) appeared and in which he expressed his grief over the being ousted by the Sorbs (and the Slavs) by German culture and glorified the Slavic past.

The Ján Kollár Museum in Mošovce

This masterpiece, partly reminiscent of Goethe, consisted in its last version of a total of 645 sonnets, which were divided into a monumental prelude and the chants “ Sala ”, “ Elbe - Ren - Moldau ”, “ Donau ”, “ Lethe ” (heaven) and “ Acheron ”(Hell). In "Sala" the love for Mina (actually Kollárs Friederike), the Slavic daughter of the mother Sláva (literally: fame, at the same time allusion to the word "Slavs"), is portrayed and at the same time it is explained that the other half of the author's heart is his Home applies. In “Elbe - Ren - Moldau” we witness, among other things, Kollár's journey from Jena to Prague, where patriotic issues arise (Germanization of Slavic areas) as well as the love for Mina. In “Danube” he travels from Prague to Pressburg, describing what he believes are typical characteristics of the Slavs, such as justice, longing for unification, etc. In “Lethe”, which is reminiscent of Dante's Divine Comedy , famous Slavic personalities are sung about, whereby the author is accompanied by the goddess Sláva in the Slavic sky. In “Acheron” the enemies of Slavery are finally sent to Slavic hell. The work is written in Czech with some Slovak elements.

Then came the meritorious, huge collection of Slovak folk songs : Národnie Zpiewanky, čili písně světské… (literally: folk songs or secular songs…, 1834–35). He had previously worked with Pavol Jozef Šafárik on the collection Písně světské lidu slovenského v Uhřích (literally: Secular songs of the Slovak people in Hungary, 1823-1827), which he put together at Goethe's suggestion .

Memorial plaque for the poet in Jena-Lobeda

In his treatise O literární vzájemnosti mezi kmeny a nářěčími slavskými ( On the literary reciprocity between the tribes and dialects of the Slavic nation , 1831–1836), written (in extended form also in German), he explains his pan-Slavic conviction that there is a single Slavic nation which consists of four “tribes” - Russian, Polish, Illyrian and Czech-Slovak. In this he theoretically established the unity of Slavic culture and, under the influence of Herder, assigned it a humanizing mission.

Among his numerous other works are the writing on the merits of the Slavic people Dobré vlastnosti národu slovanského (literally: Good qualities of the Slavic nation, 1822), his critical writing Něco o pomaďarčovaní Slovanú v Uhrách (literally: On the Magyarization of the Slavs in Hungary , k. A.), his first Pan-Slavic script Jmenoslov čili slovník osobních jmen rozličných kmenů a nářečí národu slavenského (literally: nomenclature that means dictionary of personal names of the different tribes and dialects of the Slavic nation, 1830).

Kollár was also the author of numerous travel reports from his trips to Germany , Northern Italy and Switzerland in the 1840s .

After a visit to Neustrelitz in September 1850, Kollár began preparatory work on a broad-based monograph on the so-called. Prillwitz idols that remained unfinished. Parts of the manuscript appeared in print from 1857–1864, but this was not enough.

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

His collected works (with the autobiography of the poet) appeared, for example, in four volumes in Prague (2nd edition, 1868, more recent data: n / a).

Other works and his attitude towards the Slovak language

The statue of Ján Kollár in Mošovce

Since Kollár held the theory that there is a unified Czech-Slovak tribe, he was also against all attempts by other Slovaks to establish Slovak as an independent written language . Although he advocated a rapprochement with the Moravian and Slovak dialects and tried in his earlier works to incorporate Slovak elements into his Czech so that the two languages ​​could find each other as much as possible, whereby he emphasized the melodious sound of Slovak. Nevertheless, this Czech with Slovak elements, especially in the textbooks for Slovak schools ( Čítanka (Reader, 1825), Šlabikář (Primer, 1826) and the new edition of Slávy dcera from 1835), was far from today's standard Slovak language.

His folk song collections were one of the impulses of the group around Ľudovít Štúr to elevate the Middle Slovak dialect to the Slovak written language, but Kollár expressly rejected this and put this position in a collection against the Slovak language, which contains his contributions and contributions by like-minded people and under the title Hlasové o potřebě jednoty spisovného jazyka pro Čechy, Moravany a Slováky (Voices on the need for a uniform written language for the Bohemians, Moravians and Slovaks, 1846) was published in a very aggressive manner. After the revolution of 1848/1849 , in the the Slovaks had fought for the Habsburgs in Vienna against the rebellious Hungarians , the Austrian government decided, as a reward for the Slovaks , to partially allow Slovak as the official language for schools, lower courts, etc. Kollár was commissioned to create such an official language, but the so-called Old Slovak ( staroslovenčina ) he had introduced was largely identical to Czech, despite the name. This artificial official language was in fact only in use until 1852, when the Slovak grammar by Martin Hattala appeared, and it retained its official status until 1859.

literature

Web links

Commons : Ján Kollár  - collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ The only surviving copy of it today is owned by the Schwerin State Library .
personal data
SURNAME Kollár, Ján
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovak lyric poet, antiquarian and linguist
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH Mošovce , Slovakia
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1852
Place of death Vienna