The ''Diary'' (often referred to as the ''Secret Diary'' or ''Cipher Diary'') was written in 1835 by
Karel Hynek Mácha
Karel Hynek Mácha () (16 November 1810 – 5 November 1836) was a Czechs, Czech Romanticism, romantic poet. His poem ''Máj'' is among the most important poems in the history of Czech literature.
Biography
Mácha was born on 16 November 1810 ...
, the best-known
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
romantic poet. After deciphering of the parts recorded in code, there was a discussion of the decision to publish the author's private affairs.
Contents
Ten pages of the manuscript contain 29 records from to 1835 (five more records were rewritten by Karel Sabina and so it is likely that the manuscript is just a fragment)
[Pavel Vašák: Šifrovaný deník Karla Hynka Mácha, Prague,2007, , pp.11–12, 16, 18–19] and deal with varied topics: everyday life, theatre, Prague in the time of the visit of
Emperor Ferdinand and
Tsar Nicholas Tsar Nicholas may refer to:
* Nicholas I of Russia (1796–1855), Emperor of Russia from 1825 to 1855
* Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russi ...
, and the psychological background of Mácha's masterpieces ''
Máj
''Máj'' (Czech language, Czech for the month ''May''; ; usually ''květen'') is a Romantic poetry, romantic poem by Karel Hynek Mácha in four cantos. It was fiercely criticized when first published, but since then has gained the status of one o ...
'' and ''
Cikáni
''Cikáni'' (in English ''Gypsies'') is an 1835 novel written by Czech poet Karel Hynek Mácha with typical tokens of Romanticism: old castles, night scenery and a romantic complicated plot. It is Mácha's only completed novel.
Plot
The scene ...
'';
[Karel Hynek Mácha: Deníky. Zápisníky. Korespondence. Prague 1929, pp. 399–401] the cipher parts treat the poet's intimate relationship to
Eleonora Šomková ''Eleonora Šomková'' (in Mácha's ''Diary'' as well as in literary books referred to as ''Lori'', 1817 – 1891) was the fiancée of Karel Hynek Mácha. The poet died two days before their intended wedding. Intimate details of their relationship ...
revealing his possessiveness and jealousy.
[Dr. Albert Pražák: Karel Hynek Mácha, Prague 1936, p. 144]
Deciphering
The cipher was first decoded by
Jakub Arbes
Jakub Arbes (12 June 1840, in Prague (Smíchov) – 8 April 1914) was a Czech writer and intellectual. He is best known as the creator of the literary genre called '' romanetto'' and spent much of his professional life in France.
Life and Poli ...
, who borrowed two pages from ''Umělecká Beseda'' institute in 1884 and published his results in ''Rozhledy literární'' magazine in 1886. 38 different ciphers were used 4,421 times altogether in the extant manuscript.
The cipher was complicated by using both Czech and German language, and writing every second line from right to left.
Controversy and publishing
Jakub Arbes was the first to read the text of the cipher passages and to recommend not publishing all of it, because "some parts concerning most delicate matters are not advisable to be published".
The question of publishing was opened on the occasion of the celebration of the poet's centenary in 1936. A group of surrealists and linguists (
Roman Jakobson
Roman Osipovich Jakobson (, ; 18 July 1982) was a Russian linguist and literary theorist. A pioneer of structural linguistics, Jakobson was one of the most celebrated and influential linguists of the twentieth century. With Nikolai Trubetzk ...
,
Karel Teige
Karel Teige (13 December 1900 – 1 October 1951) was a Czech modernist avant-garde artist, writer, critic and one of the most important figures of the 1920s and 1930s movement. He was a member of the '' Devětsil'' (Butterbur) movement in the ...
,
Vítězslav Nezval
Vítězslav Nezval (; 26 May 1900 – 6 April 1958) was a Czechs, Czech poet, writer and translator. He was one of the most prolific avant-garde Czech writers in the first half of the 20th century and a co-founder of the Surrealism, Surrealist ...
, and Bohuslav Brouk) argued against the poet's false cult and for publishing the secret parts of the diary.
The complete text was not published until the 1970s (but not officially in
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
), and it was widely distributed in the 1980s.
The correctly decoded and critically analysed text was first published in 2007.
Context
In 1986
Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...
's ''
Secret Journal 1836–1837'' was published which has very erotic contents.
At the end of the 19th century, ''Journal Intime'' by
Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
A committed republican from 1795, Constant ...
was first published.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diary of 1835 (Macha)
Diaries
Czech books
Works by Karel Hynek Mácha