Poetry. Translated from the Czech by Marcela Sulak. Compared to Byron, Keats, Shelley, and Poe, called Lautreamont's "elder brother" by the Czech Surrealists, Karel Hynek Macha (1810-1836) was the greatest Czech Romantic poet, and arguably the most influential of any poet in the language. MAY, his epic masterpiece, was published in April 1836, just seven months before his death. Considered the "pearl" of Czech poetry, it is a tale of seduction, revenge, and patricide. A paean as well to his homeland, virtually every Czech student and adult can recite the first stanzas of the poem from memory, and new editions still regularly appear in Czech bookstores. Unlike many of his European peers, Macha's work has been largely ignored in English translation. The present volume provides the original text in parallel.

The book is a translation, in rhymed and rhymic verse, of the Czech writer Karel Hynek Macha's long poem in the Byronic style, one of the most famous works of Czech literature. William Harkins is the translator and editor, and the poem, rendered here in both English translation and Czech, is accompanied by a preface and introduction. The story concerns the unhappy fate of a bandit hero who unwittingly kills his own father, who had seduced his lover. The poem is replete with an atmosphere of destiny and doom. The principal ironic device is paradox: life and love, emblematic of joy and happiness, lead inevitably to torture and death for the crime of parricide. Nature, at first rejoicing in the joy of love, turns into a mirror of gloom and death. Indeed, the poem is notable as one in the Byronic mode that closely involves Nature as a participant in the drama. Another notable feature is the poet's identification of himself with the victims of the tragedy, and the poem can be regarded as a premonition of the poet's imminent death, which occurred several months later in a tragic accident. Macha's poem was perhaps the strongest influence on subsequent Czech poetry and prose. Its romantic devices clearly anticipate much of twentieth-century literature: surrealism, existentialism, isolation and estrangement.

Macha was the greatest figure of literary Czech High Romanticism. This Gothic novel reaches out to uncover identity - of mysterious strangers, of rapists and murderers, even of national origins - but at every point it resists truthful answers.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Spisy Karla Hynka Machy, Volume 1; Spisy Karla Hynka Machy; Karel Hynek Macha Karel Hynek Macha J. Laichter, 1907