Czech Women Writers, 1890s–1948

Abstract

The ‘woman question’ and the ‘national question’ continued to dominate Czech women’s writing of the period from the 1890s to shortly after the First World War; the two questions emerged again, now normally clearly separated, in the 1930s and remained a theme of literature throughout the German Occupation. Women writers shared the same fate and followed the same trends as their male colleagues, though comparatively few adhered to avant-garde trends in the 1890s (Decadence, Symbolism, Naturalism) or the 1920s and 1930s (Expressionism, Poetism, Surrealism). At the turn of the century women’s writing and writing about women was well-served by periodicals, for example, Lada, Ženské listy, Ženská revue, Ženský svet or the annual Kalendář paní a dívek ćeských. The chief Czech literary salon was run by Felix Tèver (Anna Lauermannová-Mikschová), and smaller salons were later presided over by Ru̇žena Svobodová and Eva Jurčinová. Throughout the fin de siècle, some male writers and politicians were as vociferous as women on the woman question: particularly T. G. Masaryk, J. S. Machar, M. A. Šimáček and Alois Hajn.

I wish to express my profound gratitude to Derek Paton in Prague for countless books and photocopies without which work on Czech women writers of this period would not have been possible