A History of Bohemian LiteratureLützow, Francis, hrabe
History
A History of Bohemian Literature
Lützow, Francis, hrabe
Czech literature -- History and criticism
Many other educational works of Komenský could be enumerated; such are
_The Violet Bed of Christian Youth_, _The Garden of Letters and of
Wisdom_, &c. Komenský worked with particular energy at these works when
he, about the year 1632, hoped, as already mentioned, to be able to
return to Bohemia and reorganise the schools there. A similar motive
induced him to write the curious work entitled _Haggæus Redivivus_,
which, in spite of its Latin title, was written in Bohemian, and which
has quite recently been published for the first time. In this book
Komenský endeavoured to instruct the brethren as to the manner in which
they should reorganise their ecclesiastical institution after their
return to Bohemia, for which Komenský still hoped.
Komenský, probably soon after his arrival at Lissa, began his
philosophical, or rather "pansophic" studies; for philosophy was to
him still the handmaiden of theology, then already a rather belated
standpoint. It has already been mentioned that at Lissa he composed a
general plan and a table of contents of his future pansophic works,
to which he gave the name of _Synopsis Operis Consultatorii_.[116]
Some of these works, such as the _Panegersia_ and _Panaugia_, were
afterwards published at Amsterdam; others were destroyed by the fire
at Lissa. The first complete philosophical work of Komenský, the
_Physica_, was published during his stay at Lissa. The work has now
no interest, and is, indeed, a token of Komenský's superficiality and
credulity as regards matters of natural history. Statements concerning
this subject are by Komenský constantly proved by texts from the Bible
in a manner irritating to the modern reader.
One of the early "pansophic" works also is the _Via Lucis_, written
principally during Komenský's stay in London. The pansophic plans, such
as the foundation of a universal language and a universal academy, the
mystic use of the word light, occur in this as in all the pansophic
works. A short account of the _Via Lucis_ will be my only attempt to
elucidate the mysteries of "pansophy." Arid and unattractive as the
subject must necessarily appear to the modern intellect, no account
that altogether ignored "pansophy" could claim to give a truthful
representation of Komenský.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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