Ján Kollár
Encyclopedia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
writer (mainly poet), archaeologist, scientist, politician, and main ideologist of Pan-Slavism
Pan-Slavism
Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid-19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires, Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice...
.
Life
He studied at the Lutheran Lyceum in BratislavaBratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
. He spent most of his adult life as a chaplain to the populous but poor Slovak
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
Lutheran community in Pest (today part of Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
), since 1849 as a professor of Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
archeology of the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
, and several times as a counsellor to the Austrian government for issues around the Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
. He entered the Slovak national movement
Slovak Uprising
Slovak Uprising may refer to:* Slovak Uprising 1848-1849, Slovak Volunteer Campaigns against Magyar domination in Upper Hungary , within the 1848-49 revolutions in the Habsburg Monarchy....
in its first phase.
His museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
(since 1974) in Mošovce was installed in the former granary
Granary
A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...
, which was the only masoned part of Kollár's otherwise wooden birth-house. The rest of the house burned down in a fire on 16 August 1863. In 2009 was built a replica of the original Kollár's birth-house, which is now a museum.
Views
He worked out a conception of Slav reciprocity. He admitted 4 standard languages: RussianRussian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Czecho
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
and Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
.
Works
Besides writing poetry he also wrote technical literature.- Slávy DceraSlávy DceraSlávy Dcera is the greatest work of Slovak poet Ján Kollár, consisting of 5 parts.In this work he worked out the conception of Slavic reciprocity. He expressed his feelings to a woman but this love had transformed to a love to his homeland. The main tematics of this work are:•love•patriotismIt is...
(The daughter of Sláva), collection of two (37 and 39 sonnetSonnetA sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s) cycles
In this work he worked out the conception of Slavic reciprocity. He expressed his feelings to a woman but this love had transformed to a love to his homeland. The main tematics of this work are:
•love
•patriotism
It is divided into 5 chapters and it has a foreword.
Předzpěv
The author expressed his fears that the Slovaks will disappear from Europe like other Slavic tribes did it before. He asked the Slovaks to ask for help from the Russian nation.
1. Sála
This part contains love sonnets. He glorified his love and made from her an idol of Slovak women. From this time the girl is Mína,the daughter of goddess Sláva.
2. Labe, Rén, Vltava
In these parts the author took us to places where Slavic tribes lived before. He is disappointed because these areas belong to foreign countries now.
3. Dunaj
The author arrived to Slovakia. He had to see the poverty of this area. He is highly disappointed and he longed for death.
4. Léthé
5. Acheron
Mína, the daughter of goddess Sláva (the author's love), turned into a fairy and took the author to the heaven and to the hell of Slovaks.
- O literární vzájemnosti mezi kmeny a nářečími slavskĭmi (On the literary reciprocity between Slav tribes and vernaculars)