Karel Sabina (pen names include Arian Želinský and Leo Blass) (29 December 1813 – 8 November 1877) was a

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' Places * Czech, ...

writer and journalist.

Life

Karel Sabina 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. Sabina later claimed that he was an illegitimate son of a Polish noble. Studied philosophy and law, but did not graduate. In

1848 1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most failed in their immediate aims, they significantly altered the polit ...

Sabina became one of the leaders of the Czech radical democrats, the founder of a secret radical political circle "Repeal" (the name inspired by Irish revolutionaries), a member of the National Committee and the Czech congress. Sabina published many articles (several of which were

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

) to magazines during this period.

Imprisonment

In 1849 he was arrested for taking part in the " May Coup" (a plan to make an uprising, inspired by

Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary s ...

, then present in Prague) and in 1851 sentenced to death together with 24 other men; but these sentences were changed by the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

to 18 years in the

Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on t ...

prison; in 1857 he was released, following the Emperor's general

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

of May 8. He came back to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

and lived as a freelance writer.

Allegations of betrayal

In 1870 the newspaper ''Vaterland'' accused Sabina of being a police

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

. Sabina successfully sued the newspaper for a libel. In 1872, in an unofficial trial by a self-appointed jury of eight Czech intellectuals (including

Jan Neruda Jan Nepomuk Neruda (Czech: �jan ˈnɛpomuk ˈnɛruda 9 July 1834 – 22 August 1891) was a Czech journalist, writer, poet and art critic; one of the most prominent representatives of Czech Realism and a member of the " May School". Early lif ...

and

Vítězslav Hálek Vítězslav Hálek (; 5 April 1835, in Odolena Voda – 8 October 1874), also known as Vincenc Hálek, was a Czech poet, writer, journalist, dramatist and theatre critic. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the May Schoo ...

), Karel Sabina was found guilty of being an informant. Sabina, unable to find exile abroad, was forced to live in hiding in Prague. For the rest of his life, Karel Sabina denied the accusations.Karel Sabina
The reasons of Sabina's alleged cooperation with the police are not quite clear; if it happened, it might have been a combination of disillusion with the failed revolution which resulted in his long imprisonment, constant police pressure afterwards and his extreme poverty.Karel Sabina
/ref> Being an outcast - his books were no longer sold, on posters (such as the one for the ''

Prodaná nevěsta ''The Bartered Bride'' ( cz, Prodaná nevěsta, links=no, ''The Sold Bride'') is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The work is generally regarded as a major contribution towards the ...

'' - whose libretto was seen by some people as Sabina's refutation of the accusations until Miroslav 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 greatly complicating the historians' effort to make Sabina's bibliography of articles complete.

Death

Sabina died in poverty and scorn in 1877, general exhaustion being given as the cause of death.

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, replacing

Karel Havlíček Borovský Karel Havlíček Borovský (; Borová, today ''Havlíčkova Borová;'' 31 October 1821 – 29 July 1856) was a Czech writer, poet, critic, politician, journalist, and publisher. Early life and education He lived and studied at the Gymnasium ...

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 Morana may refer to: * Moraña, a municipality in Galicia, Spain * Morana Dam, an earthfill dam on Morana river near Patan, Satara district in the state of Maharashtra in India * Marzanna Marzanna (in Polish), Morė (in Lithuanian), Marena (in ...

or The World and its Nothingnesses''

Plays

* ''Černá růže'', ''The Black Rose'' * ''Inzerát'', ''Advertisement'' * ''Šašek Jiřího z Poděbrad'', '' Jester of

George of Poděbrady George of Kunštát and Poděbrady (23 April 1420 – 22 March 1471), also known as Poděbrad or Podiebrad ( cs, Jiří z Poděbrad; german: Georg von Podiebrad), was the sixteenth King of Bohemia, who ruled in 1458–1471. He was a leader of the ...

'' * ''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

* ''

'', by

Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana ( , ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival." He has been regarded i ...

* ''

Braniboři v Čechách ''The Brandenburgers in Bohemia'' ( cz, Braniboři v Čechách) is a three-act opera, the first by Bedřich Smetana. The Czech libretto was written by Karel Sabina, and is based on events from Czech history. The work was composed in the years 1862 ...

'', by Bedřich Smetana * ''Starý ženich'', by Karel Bendl * ''V studni'', by

Vilém Blodek Vilém Blodek, born Vilém František Plodek (October 3, 1834, Prague – May 1, 1874, Prague), was a Czech composer, flautist, and pianist. Biography Blodek was born into a poor family and was educated at a German Piarist school in Prague. Af ...

Others

* ''Básně'' (1841), ''Poems'' * ''Úvod povahopisný'' (1845), ''Introduction to a temperament'' - a very important book, being the very first study on Karel Hynek Mácha, who was Sabina's friend. This book recognised and illustrated Mácha's importance and genius. * ''Duchovní komunismus'' (1861), ''Spiritual

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

'' - about everyone's right for education * ''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 Ivan Wernisch (born 18 June 1942) is a Czech poet, editor and a collage artist. He studied Ceramics Secondary school in Carlsbad (he left in 1959) and has since done many jobs, mostly manual. In 1961, after publishing his debut poetry book, he ...

References

External links

* M. Ivanov, ''Labyrint'', Prague, 1971
Info and photo, in Czech

Info and photo, in Czech

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabina, Karel 1813 births 1877 deaths Writers from Prague Czech journalists Czech philosophers 19th-century Czech poets Czech male poets Czech male dramatists and playwrights Czech opera librettists 19th-century journalists Male journalists 19th-century Czech dramatists and playwrights 19th-century male writers