Karel Havlíček Borovský

because he thought the best way to serve the nation would be from the position of a priest. He was expelled, however, after one year for "showing too little indication for spiritual ministry".

He failed in finding a teacher's job in Bohemia, so he left for Moscow to become a tutor in a Russian teacher's family (he was recommended by Pavel Josef Šafařík). He came as a Russophile and a Pan-Slav, but after recognizing the true reality of the Russian society he took the pessimistic view that "Pan-Slavism is a great, attractive but feckless idea". His memories on the Russian stay were published first in magazines and then as a book under the name "Obrazy z Rus" (Pictures from Russia).

After he returned to Bohemia in 1844, he used his writing skill to criticize the public habit of embracing everything written in the recently re-born Czech language. His attack was aimed specifically at a novel by Josef Kajetán Tyl. František Palacký helped Havlíček get a job as Editor of the "Pražské noviny" newspaper in 1846.

In April 1848 he changed the name of the newspaper to "Národní noviny" (National News). This paper became one of the first newspapers of the Revolutionary-era Czech liberals. He was concerned with the preparations of the Congress of the Slavs in Prague. In July he was elected a member of Austrian Empire Constituent Assembly in Vienna and later in Kroměříž. He finally gave up the seat to focus on his journalism. "Národní noviny" became popular especially for his sharp-tongued epigrams and his wit.

Havlíček was, politically, a "liberal nationalist." However, he refused to allow a "party line" to inform his opinions. Often, he would criticize those that agreed with him as much as those that disagreed. He exoriated revolutionaries for their radicalism, but also advocated ideas like universal suffrage--a concept altogether too radical for most of his fellow liberals. He was a pragmatist, and had little patience for those that spent their time romanticizing the Czech nationality without helping it achieve political or cultural independence. He used much of the space in his newspapers to educate the people on important issues--stressing areas like economics, which were sorely neglected by other nationalist writers.

from its start. It had to stop publication in August 1851, and Havlíček stood again at the court to answer on charges of dissent. Again, he was found not guilty by a sympathetic jury of Czech commoners.

Havlíček translated and introduced some satirical and critical authors into Czech language culture e.g. Nikolai Gogol (1842) or Voltaire (1851)¹.

Against the sense of law he was arrested by the police on the night of December 16, 1851, and forced into exile in Brixen, Austria (present-day Italy). He was depressed from the exile, but continued writing. While in exile, he wrote some of his best work: "Tyrolské elegie" (Tirol Laments), "Křest svatého Vladimíra" (Baptism of St.Vladimir) and "Král Lávra" (King Lavra). When he returned from Brixen in 1855, he learned that his wife had died a few days earlier. Most of his former friends, afraid of the Bach system, stood aloof from him. Only a few publicly declared support for him. He died from tuberculosis, aged 35. Božena Němcová put a crown of thorns on his head in the coffin. His funeral was attended by a procession of about 5,000 Czechs.

Memorials

A Monument was raised to Havlicek in Chicago by Czech residents of the city in Douglas Park. Unveiled in 1910, the statue by Joseph Strachovsky shows Havlicek in a revolutionary pose, dressed in a full military uniform and a draped cape with his outstretched arm motioning the viewer to join him. The Monument was moved to Solidarity Drive on today's Museum Campus in the vicinity of the Adler Planetarium in 1981 [Graf, John, "Chicago's Parks" Arcadia Publishing, 2000, p. 14., ISBN 0-7385-0716-4.] .

References

Reinfeld, Barbara. "Karel Havlíček (1821 - 1856): A National Liberation Leader of the Czech Renascence." New York: Columbia UP, 1982.
*"Chalupný E.: Havlíček - prostředí, osobnost, dílo, Praha 1929"
*"Procházka V.: Karel Havlíček Borovský, Praha 1961"
*"Nejtek V. M.: Karel Havlíček Borovský, Praha 1979"
* [http://www.libri.cz/databaze/kdo18/search.php?zp=10&name=HAVL%CD%C8EK+BOROVSK%DD+KAREL| Czech Who is who] ¹ Otakar Zachar, introduction to "Listy Amabedovy", 1908