Publication details

Nietzsche v Čechách na přelomu 19. a 20. století, Masaryk a Rusko

Title in English Nietzsche in the Czech lands at the turn of the 19th century, Masaryk and Russia
Authors

ZOUHAR Jan

Year of publication 2016
Type Chapter of a book
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Description F. Nietzsches work and ideas found a fruitful reflection in the specific intellectual situation of Czech society in the 1890s, characterized by ambivalence between feelings of crisis and determined impatience. Nietzsches philosophy was primarily interpreted as a suggestive philosophy of life. Many of his ideas were transformed in our intellectual environment, sometimes unintentionally. Part of the reason is that a stronger response to Nietzsches work was originally caused by its part, namely Zarathustra. This paper focuses on a number of poets (decadent poets affiliated with Moderní revue (Modern Review), S. K. Neumann, J. S. Machar, O. Brezina), aestheticians, literary scientists, critics and philosophers (F. X. Šalda, T. G. Masaryk, E. Rádl, F. Krejcí, L. Klíma, O. Fischer, Z. Nejedlý, L. Borský) who were either influenced by Nietzsches philosophy or popularized it in Bohemia. In the first phase, Nietzsches philosophy particularly influenced the literary generation of the 1890s. Philosophers responded to Nietzsche more slowly, hesitantly and cautiously. A prominent and permanent theme in T. G. Masaryks lifetime work was the so-called Russian and Slavonic question. When Masaryk first visited Russia in the spring of 1887 and then again in 1888, he had already been well acquainted with Russian culture and lifestyle. His third visit to Russia took place in 1910 and the fourth in 1917–1918. Before the outbreak of WWI, Masaryk expressed his opinions on Russia in his Russia and Europe (1913), his most extensive work. In this treatment, Masaryk’s longterm relationship to Russian culture, history and thought culminated and he proved his knowledge of Russian cultural and political situation. The immensely valuable informational content of the text has not become outdated and it can still serve as a basic textbook for the study of Russian intellectual history.
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