The aim of this paper is to describe 18th century "language criticism" (Sprachkritik) in the Bohemian Lands and underline its role within the process of establishing of the literary criticism. In the Habsburg monarchy, the language criticism can be traced back to the late 1740s; its origins are linked to the southern German sense of cultural (and thus linguistic), political and economical backwardness and to the efforts to catch up with the mostly protestant countries of Central and Northern Germany. The authors of this article examine not only reflections of used language and style in particular works, but also the position, prestige and function of various languages (German, Latin, Czech) themselves. The trends in language criticism and - in the narrower sense - language cultivation are examined with the use of both expert contributions to learned discussions and publicistic articles in critical journals aiming at a larger audience. In the whole process, several moments that meant a significant impulse for language criticism can be observed. The first one would be the appointment of Karl Heinrich Seibt as university professor of Schöne Wissenschaften (belles lettres), rhetoric, historia litteraria and ethics in 1763, followed by the efforts to establish a learned society, Josephine reforms and foundation of a chair of Czech language and literature at Prague university in 1791. Finally, the tightening of censorship from the second half of 1790s on had a considerable influence on criticism; its subject started to change and it began to focus on a different group of intended readers: while it used to try to educate potential future authors, afterwards it concentrated more and more on educating of the "common reader" and engaging him into critical reflections on belles lettres., Václav Petrbok a Ondřej Podavka., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Starting with the traditional dichotomy of two views of the relation between criticism and art - "criticism as art" and "criticism based on detachment" - this study seeks to show both standpoints to be part of a single complex of issues and tensions associated with the functional differentiation within literary communication at the turn of 18th and 19th century. This approach is based on Niklas Luhmann’s system theory, applied (with something of a twist) by Siegfried Schmidt to literature. After introducing the problem of functional differentiation within the literary system in Bohemia, the study presents many different historical conceptions of the relation of art and criticism observable in discussions at the turn of 18th and 19th century in Bohemia. I then focus on the notion of "genius" in these discussions, which played an important role in the development of the concept of "criticism as art". In the following three parts, the study investigates the differentiation of critical praxis: the genesis of "artistic criticism" characterized by hermeneutics and its form-reflecting approach, and the ongoing usage of artistic genres in criticism. The last part focuses on a specific critical genre of the period, the satirical vision, and its transformation as a consequence of the differentiation of the literary system., Václav Smyčka., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
In the present text I have attempted to describe the profession of elementary school teacher and the changes it underwent in the last quarter of the 18th century. At that time, the education of the majority of children between the ages of six and twelve or thirteen was mostly in the hands of village schoolmasters, and these are my primary focus. Following the reform of the education system by Maria Teresa, teachers in Bohemia and Moravia were trained predominantly in what were known as preparanda at the Normal School in Prague. Their training differed from that of their predecessors in that their knowledge was now tested in examinations, with greater emphasis on teaching methods and closer supervision. Drawing on lists of teacher training graduates and other sources, I have analysed how many graduated every year and under what conditions, what textbooks they later used in the classroom, and the official view of pedagogy at that time. From those lists I was able to conclude that graduates who only spoke Czech ended up teaching only in small Czech-medium village schools. By looking at certain individual teachers more closely (such as the composer Jakub Jan Ryba, the pastor Tomáš Juren and several members of the Vlach family of teachers from Boleslav), my aim was to describe in outline the career of these "Czech" village schoolmasters, their motivation, level of knowledge, and deduce what they probably taught. From 1787 on, they were subject to inspection by regional school commissioners. I focussed on the first sixteen of these (one for each region), noting in particular how they were selected, their duties and aims. For it is they who were the guarantors of the new school system and the disseminators of the new thinking.As a result of the reforms, mandatory training and more exacting standards, elementary school teachers were able to improve their social standing and prestige., Michal Kneblík., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy