Competing myths of Czech identity

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-204
Author(s):  
Radek Chlup

The article analyses the current antagonism between the Czech pro-Western liberal democratic discourse and the discourse of national sovereignty from the perspective of long-term conceptions of Czech national identity and the mythical narratives through which they have been expressed. I identify two basic mythical perspectives that have been crucial for the Czechs since the 19th century: the ‘particularist’ and the ‘universalist’. The latter originally only existed as a complement of the former, and it was not until 1968 that it was clearly expressed on its own (in its pro-Western version) in opposition to the particularist myth, eventually becoming the dominant narrative of the 1990s with their ethos of returning to the West. Once the post-revolutionary enthusiasm evaporated, however, the subsequent disillusion again came to be expressed through the particularist myth. While at present the universalist myth might seem as superior to the particularist one, from the perspective of theories of nationalism, both have their bright and dark sides, and it is only due to their present-day opposition that the particularist myth has taken the illiberal turn. A critical reflection of the limitations of both myths might allow us to soften their antagonism.

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Klara Kroftova

An urban residential building from the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century, the so-called tenement house, is a significant representative of the architecture of the developing urban fabric in Central Europe. The vertical and horizontal load-bearing structures of these houses currently tend to show characteristic, repeated defects and failures. Their knowledge may, in many cases, facilitate and speed up the design of the historic building’s restoration without compromising its heritage value in this process. The article presents the summary of the most frequently occurring defects and failures of these buildings. The summary, however, is not an absolute one, and, in the case of major damage to the building, it still applies that, first of all, a detailed analysis of the causes and consequences of defects and failures must be made as a basic prerequisite for the reliability and long-term durability of the building’s restoration and rehabilitation. An integral part of the rehabilitation of buildings must be the elimination of the causes of the appearance of their failures and remediation of all defects impairing their structural safety, health safety and energy efficiency.


2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 547-549
Author(s):  
V. Necla Geyikdagi

“Jack of all trades” Ahmed Midhat Efendi, one of the most famous and popular Ottoman writers of the 19th century, ranged widely in his subject matter, which included economics. Although he was criticized for not having a proper education in the field, his independent thinking made him the most important critic of the laissez-faire system that prevailed in the Ottoman Empire. He disapproved of the liberalism transferred from the West in a normative framework.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-24
Author(s):  
Akmal Hawi

The 19th century to the 20th century is a moment in which Muslims enter a new gate, the gate of renewal. This phase is often referred to as the century of modernism, a century where people are confronted with the fact that the West is far ahead of them. This situation made various responses emerging, various Islamic groups responded in different ways based on their Islamic nature. Some respond with accommodative stance and recognize that the people are indeed doomed and must follow the West in order to rise from the downturn. Others respond by rejecting anything coming from the West because they think it is outside of Islam. These circles believe Islam is the best and the people must return to the foundations of revelation, this circle is often called the revivalists. One of the figures who is an important figure in Islamic reform, Jamaluddin Al-Afghani, a reformer who has its own uniqueness, uniqueness, and mystery. Departing from the division of Islamic features above, Afghani occupies a unique position in responding to Western domination of Islam. On the one hand, Afghani is very moderate by accommodating ideas coming from the West, this is done to improve the decline of the ummah. On the other hand, however, Afghani appeared so loudly when it came to the question of nationality or on matters relating to Islam. As a result, Afghani traces his legs on two different sides, he is a modernist but also a fundamentalist. 


2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Jernej Kosi

The article analyses the process involved in the formation of the idea to separate the "Slovenian" and "Croatian" national territory in the west of the Kingdom of Hungary. The concept was initially articulated as a linguistic premise in the works written by the famous linguist Jernej Kopitar, who understood the territory of the today's Prekmurje region as an area where Slovenian language was spoken. As of the middle of the 19th century, Kopitar's classification had been appropriated by the Slovenian national movement, which presupposed that the speakers of the Slovenian language in the Kingdom of Hungary were also members of the envisioned Slovenian community. In this context the Slovenian linguistic – national border was, in the middle of the 19th century, depicted on a map for the first time (Peter Kozler). In just a few decades, the idea of the national demarcation line in the today's Prekmurje, supposedly separating Slovenians from Croats at the river Mura, had strengthened considerably among the Slovenian national activists in the Cisleithanian lands. After the dissolution of Austro-Hungary and the signing of the Treaty of Trianion, this line in fact became a border between the Slovenian and the neighbouring Croatian national space. 


Author(s):  
Liliya Orlanovna Norbu ◽  
Mariya Vladimirovna Kholodova

The authors of the research focus on Antonio Pasculli, a famous Italian virtuoso oboe player and composer of the late 19th - the early 20th century, whose name had long and undeservingly been in the wilderness. In the last two-three decades, his legacy has been getting a new lease on life. Pasculli’s compositions are on the concert list of oboe players all over the world. Despite the performance popularity, the personality and creative work of the outstanding Italian musician are still on the periphery of the research focus of Russian musicologists. All valuable information is contained in rare foreign researches. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to reconstruct the artistic portrait of Antonio Pasculli in the context of time. This research is the first in Russian musicology to introduce into Russian scientific discourse the data from foreign sources revealing the peculiarities of Pasculli’s creative life. Based on the analysis of the collected data, the authors conclude about the necessity to revise the role of Pasculli’s work and legacy in the context of European music culture of the 19th century. It is believed that familiarization with the information about the Italian musician, unknown to the Russian audience, will help to not only dive deeper into the specificity of Pasculli’s compositions, but also to reinterpret his place and role in the evolution of playing woodwind instruments.


2020 ◽  
pp. 93-101
Author(s):  
TADEUSZ LEWASZKIEWICZ

Zygmunt Krasiński devoted much if his attention to the “philosophical” essence of the language and the origins of various tongues. His conjectures, based on speculative and mystic philosophy, are of no scientific importance; rather, they reflect the author’s strong attachment to religion. While not original, his views on the role of a mother tongue in preserving national identity are correct. The writer was interested in spelling and correct grammatical usage of the Polish language. He also focused on assessing the style of texts written in Polish and French. His views were hardly innovative, offering some value in comparison with the 19th century theory of style. Other language-related mentions: the sophistication of Juliusz Słowacki’s language and proposals of baby names based on “inspired” etymological ideas, are inconsequential.


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