Karolína Světlá

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Karolina Světlá
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Karolína Světlá (born February 24, 1830 in Prague ; † September 7, 1899 there ; real name Johanna Rottová , married Mužáková ) was a Czech writer who published under the pseudonym Karolína Světlá. She was a member of the Májovci group of authors and, as the founder of Czech-language novels in the 19th century, is of literary historical importance. Their life and work were shaped by their friendships and the like. a. influenced by Jan Neruda , Božena Němcová and George Sand .

Life

Johanna Rottová had a sister, the writer and translator Sofie Podlipská (born Rottová, born May 15, 1833 in Prague, + December 17, 1897 there), they had a brother, Jindřich Rott (1837–1906).

They share their great-grandfather Jakub Rott (1718–1779), father of a total of seventeen children (eight from the first, nine from the second marriage) with the well-known Prague hardware dealer family V. J. Rott . From Jakub's second marriage to Alžběta (born Lorenzová; † 1784) came the grandfather of the three siblings, Eustach Antonín Rott (1768– ??).

Johanna Rottová, like all members of the ramified Rott family, had a comprehensive general education; besides German and Czech, she also spoke French. She joined the Czech national movement at a young age. In 1852 she married her piano teacher, the later secondary school professor Petr Mužák, who introduced her to the artistic circles of Czech society, where she became acquainted with Božena Němcová.

Her literary work began in the late 1850s, when she survived a life crisis caused by the death of her only child, daughter Boženka (* 1853). Her husband's birthplace, Světlá pod Ještědem , was the inspiration for her pseudonym , and life in the Jeschken Mountains , where she went in summer, for her work.

Světlás grave in Prague

From 1878 she suffered from an eye disease and had to dictate her work. Her secretary and partner was her niece Anežka Čermáková-Sluková.

Karolina Světlá was a member of some emancipated circles. In 1871 she founded the Ženský výrobní spolek český company , which she then headed for several years; the purpose of this association was to support girls from poor families through education and work. She was also a co-founder of the Americký klub dam .

She was also an editor, her main subject being the position of women in society. Bedřich Smetana used her story “Hubicka” as a template for the opera of the same name.

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Karolina Světlá
photo around 1860

She was mainly influenced by Božena Němcová . Whenever she dealt with a social issue in her work (she did quite often), she reflected on maids as well as family members. At first she wrote about the middle-class Prague milieu from which she came. The Světlá created so-called Prague prose several times, but this was not as successful as their free prose.

  • Černý Petříček - depicts the life of a horse dealer in the market in old Prague
  • Upomínky - covers her life, that of a typical Prague family in the 1830s and 40s
  • Zvonečková královna - a novel with a clear anti-Catholic tendency
  • První Češka - a novel about the difficult implementation of Czech patriotism in German-dominated Prague society

Her most popular prose is that from the Jeschken Mountains , where she went every summer for 30 years - the so-called ještědské prózy . In it she tried to characterize the people in the country and at the same time to clarify certain moral questions that she considered important. She paid the greatest attention to the gender relationship - her protagonists are always women who are ethically and morally strong. These women are able to sacrifice their love for higher ideals. Her heroines are mostly dissatisfied with their lives and do not find happiness. The Světlá demonstrates its basic idea with their figures: true happiness cannot be achieved by violating ethical rules.

The following five novels are known as Ještědské romány . In these novels, village society is on a higher ethical level than the Prague citizens.

  • Vesnický román - the tragedy of a marriage without love. She shows the example of an unequal marriage. Antoš Jirovec, who works on a school yard, takes care of the village schoolmaster's widow after his death . She tries to love Antoš, but he has no time for her because of the work on the estate. She suspects that he has another wife and hires out the maid Sylva, who becomes very close to Antoš. When the woman leaves the farm so that she does not get infected with smallpox by her children, Sylva worries about her and Antoš. Even when the mistress dies, Sylva cannot take Antoš because she promised her before death that Antoš would remain loyal to her.
  • Kříž u potoka - the main heroine Eva fights for equality, it ends tragically. She sacrifices her love to protect her husband.
  • Nemodlenec (1873) - against Catholic zeal for faith, the relativity of values ​​(she herself defended and often celebrated in her works the members of the brotherhood )
  • Frantina - Frantina was elected village mayor, she recognizes her chosen one in the leader of the poachers and executes him herself
  • Kantůrčice - deals with the problem of the position of women in society
  • Hubička a jiné ještědské povídky - Eliška Krásnohorská arranged the story Hubička ( The Kiss ) as a libretto for the opera of the same name by Bedřich Smetana . The young boy Lukáš marries without love, but keeps thinking about his beloved Vendulka. After the death of his wife he wants to marry Vendulka, but she refuses a premarital kiss because it would annoy his wife. Lukáš begins to tease her and she goes to her aunt, who is stealing with packed goods. Lukáš is looking for her, and after a long time he finds her. Vendulka then kisses him and they get married. There are other stories in the book that do not come close to the meaning of Hubička ( Přišla do rozumu , Selka , Večer u koryta , Námluvy , ...)

stories

In addition to these books, she wrote a number of stories ( Společnice , Skalák , Cikánka , Lesní panna , ...) which were published in many magazines ( Světozor , Lumír , Máj , Kresby , Květy , ...).

Correspondence

Her extensive correspondence with her sister Sofie Podlipská , her young friend Eliška Krásnohorska and Jan Neruda have been preserved.

recognition

In 1919, the regional museum in Bohemian Aicha was named after her and also houses her estate.

literature

Web links

Commons : Karolína Světlá  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Among the eight children from Jakub Rott's (1718–1779) first marriage to Rosalie (née Němečková; † 1761) was Cyprian Rott (1744–1791), the grandfather of the ironmonger Vincenc Josef Rott (1813–1890), founder of the company VJ Rott in Prague, his sons Ladislav (1851-1906) and Julius (1845-1876) and then his grandson Vladimír Jiří (1885-1965) and Ladislav Vincenc (1881-1927) continue to lead. The manufacturer and trader of musical instruments August Jakub Rott (1815–1868) was Vincenc Josef's brother. From 1839 to 1840 they had a joint shop on the Little Ring ( Malé náměstí ) in Prague (opposite the later headquarters of VJ Rott).
personal data
SURNAME Světlá, Karolína
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech writer
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1899
Place of death Prague