Sen o českých březích: první anglické antologie české poezie v 19. století jako cyklické mystifikace

Abstract

The article analyses the nature of the interest of English authors in Slavic (and specifically Czech) culture between the end of the 18th century to 1850. This period saw the publication of two translated anthologies of Czech poetry: Bowring’s Cheskian Anthology (1832) and Wratislaw’s Lyra Czecho‑slovanská. Bohemian Poems, Ancient and Modern (1849). The structure, form of translation and the reception of both anthologies demonstrate not only the mystification nature of the ‘Czech canon’ presented in them, but also reflect the deep internal instability of the values of Czech culture in the heyday of the Czech National Revival and in the period soon after.