Introduction

Abstract

‘Biography’, wrote Carlyle, ‘is the only true history’, and he could have added, the most difficult. In Masaryk’s case, the historian or philosopher dealing with the grand middle phase of his life up to 1914, as in this volume, faces two specific challenges. He or she must see Masaryk squarely in the setting of his native Central Europe, particularly Prague and Vienna, with their mix of traditional and modernising cultures, and not through the lens of his presidency of the first Czechoslovak Republic and its collapse after his death, or of later campaigns to malign or glorify him. He also must tackle an abundance of Masarykiana, written mainly in Czech and German — Masaryk was an indefatigable correspondent, his handwriting is sometimes undecipherable and his expressions enigmatic — and sufficient in quantity to daunt the most intrepid scholar. Should the scholar surmount these obstacles, he or she is obliged to say something new about this much studied subject. Indeed, the authors of the following essays have tried to be original, in their approaches and conclusions, and to avoid the twin pitfalls of uncritical hagiography and dogmatic partisanship that have ensnared many others who preceded them.