- Karel Sabina
Karel Sabina (
pen name s include Arian Želinský and Leo Blass), (28 December 1811 –8 November 1877 ) was a Czechwriter andjournalist .Life
He grew up in poverty as an extramarital child of a daughter of a sugar producing factory´s director in the family of a bricklayer and a washerwoman. He claimed he was an illegitimate son of a Polish noble. He studied
philosophy andlaw at a university, but did not graduate. In 1848 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848_in_the_Habsburg_areas|1848] he became one of the leaders of the Czech radical democrats, the founder of a secret radical political circle "Repeal" (whose name was inspired by Irish revolutionaries) [ [http://www.libri.cz/databaze/dejiny/text/t63.html 1844] ] , a member of the National Committee and the Czech congress. He wrote articles (several of which were censored) to many magazines during this period.In 1849 he was arrested for taking part in the "May Coup" (a plan to make an uprising, inspired by Bakunin, then present in Prague [ [http://www.libri.cz/databaze/dejiny/text/t66.html#18490300 1849] ] ) and in 1851 sentenced to death together with 24 other men; but these sentences were changed by the Emperor to 18 years in the
Olomouc prison; in 1857 he was released, following the Emperor´s generalamnesty ofMay 8 . He came back toPrague and lived as afreelance writer.In 1870 the
newspaper "Vaterland" published a letter which indirectly said that Sabina was a policeinformant . Sabina won a trial against the newspaper, but in 1872, in an unofficial trial, a jury of eight Czech prominents (includingJan Neruda andVítězslav Hálek ) found him guilty of being an informant and he, unable to findexile abroad, was forced to live in hiding in Prague. He denied the accusations, but now it was taken for proved that he really was a police agent from 1859 [ [http://ireferaty.lidovky.cz/100/570/Sabina-Karel Karel Sabina] ] . The reason is not quite clear; it was probably a combination of delusion after the unsuccessful revolution and his extreme poverty [ [http://www.spisovatele.cz/karel-sabina Karel Sabina] ] . He became an outcast - his books were no longer sold, on posters (such as the one for the Prodaná nevěsta - whoselibretto was seen by some people as Sabina´s refutation of the accusations untilMiroslav Ivanov ´s investigation in 1971 published in Ivanov´s book "Labyrint" proved them incorrect) his name was replaced by his initials, and he risked physical attacks whenever he appeared on the streets. However, he continued to write under pen names, some of which are unknown today, thus disabling the historians to make Sabina´sbibliography of articles complete. Sabina died in poverty and scorn in 1877. The report of his death gives "exhaustion" as the cause [ [http://ireferaty.lidovky.cz/100/570/Sabina-Karel Karel Sabina] ] .Selected works
As a journalist, he wrote mainly for "Květy", "Moravský Týdenník", "Humorist", "Lípa", "Pražské noviny" and "Wčela" (he was an
editor in the last two, replacingKarel Havlíček Borovský in both of them).Novels
* "Hrobník" (1837), "Sexton"
* "Blouznění" (1857), "Rapture"
* "Hedvika" (1858), "Hedwig "
* "Jen tři léta!" (1860), "Three years only!"
* "Na poušti" (1863), "In the desert"
* "Oživené hroby" (1870), "Enlivened Graves", inspired by his imprisonment, his best novel
* "Morana čili Svět a jeho nicoty" (1874), "Morana or The World and its Nothingnesses"Plays
* "Černá růže", "The Black Rose"
* "Inzerát", "Advertisement"
* "Šašek Jiřího z Poděbrad", "Jester ofJiří z Poděbrad "
* "Maloměstské klepny", "Smalltown Gossipmongers"Tales
* "Obrazy ze 14. a 15. věku" (1844), "Tales from the 14th and the 15th century"
* "Povídky, pověsti, obrazy a novely" (1845), "Stories, legends, tales and novellas"Librettos
* "
Prodaná nevěsta ", byBedřich Smetana
* "Braniboři v Čechách ", by Bedřich Smetana
* "Starý ženich", byKarel Bendl
* "V studni", byVilém Blodek Others
* "Básně" (1841), "Poems"
* "Úvod povahopisný" (1845), "Introducition to a temperament" - a very important book, being the very first study onKarel Hynek Mácha , who was Sabina´s friend. This book recognised and illustrated Mácha´s importance and genius.
* "Duchovní komunismus" (1861), "SpiritualCommunism " - about everyone´s right foreducation
* "Dějiny literatury československé", "The History of the Czechoslovakian Literature"Sabina in popular culture
Karel Sabina is mentioned in several poems in prose by
Ivan Wernisch .References and external links
* M. Ivanov, "Labyrint", Prague, 1971
* [http://ireferaty.lidovky.cz/100/570/Sabina-Karel Info and photo, in Czech]
* [http://www.spisovatele.cz/karel-sabina Info and photo, in Czech]
* [http://www.libri.cz/databaze/dejiny/main.html Database of Czech history, in Czech]
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