Goya's Glass by Monika Zgustova & Matthew Tree

Author:Monika Zgustova & Matthew Tree
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Literary, Biographical, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9781558617971
Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY
Published: 2012-07-10T04:00:00+00:00

“Fräulein Zaleski, we do not have enough information on the activity of the writer Němcová during the revolutionary upsets of 1848. Unfortunately, during that period we had not yet started to intercept correspondence. We have asked you for a minute description of this writer’s activity then. I do not need to add that this material is of the utmost importance to us. Do you have it?”

“In 1848, when Němcová was twenty-eight years old, her husband was transferred to Všeruby, a small mountain village on the border between Bohemia and Bavaria. The Němec family was billeted at the home of the pharmacist. The people in that area tended to speak the German language and prefer German culture. Once in the village, Němcová dedicated herself—as she had done wherever she moved—to bringing Czech culture to these people, to popularizing Czech culture, to spreading the use of the Czech language. She ordered Czech books from Prague booksellers, paid for them with her own money, and then set up a kind of mobile library and bookshop.”

“Have you any proof the writer was involved in these activities?”

“Of course. I have a copy of a letter of hers addressed to Pospíšil, a Prague publisher, dated April 17 1848: ‘Last year, during my stay in Prague, you and I decided that I could run a bookshop aimed at educating these country people. The people here know almost nothing about the world. I consider it most important, as would anybody concerned with the well-being of their nation, that country folk be better informed. For the time being, the only way to educate people is through reading. Which is why I have set all my hopes on the idea of a mobile library and bookshop, an enterprise that would prove to be of great value to ignorant people.’

“How did this enterprise fare?”

“As was to be expected, Němcová lost a lot of money with it. Not only that, but also the inhabitants of that geographical area, who had at first been indifferent toward the Němec couple, became openly hostile. This is natural enough: Němcová woke them up from their lethargy and somnolence. Should you require proof in writing, here is a note of hers dating from that period: ‘They’ve shown their true colors, these people from the villages and the town of Domažlice. My husband and I cannot so much as step out into the street, because they have threatened to beat us and throw us out by brute force. This churlishness instead of gratitude for our sincere concern for them.’”

“Could it be said that this writer launched a campaign of political agitation?”

“Yes, what she was doing was mobilizing the poor against the rich.”

“Have you proof of that?”

“Yes, a letter of hers dating from March 1848: ‘How human misery upsets me! Oh, Lotty, you have no idea of the poverty suffered by humble people. Believe me when I say that a wealthy man’s dog would not eat what the poor have to eat every day. How much money is wasted,

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