It´s cool in America, beer is flowing on the floor. Czech emmigrant ballads and their presentation of "differentness"
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Requested lectures |
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| Description | Due to their geographical location, the Czech lands were a meeting point of many cultures, nations, religions and political ideologies. As a result, Bohemia was heavily affected by emigration. While departures in the Middle Ages and the Early modern period were mainly caused by different religious attitudes, in the second half of the 19th century the motivations were mostly social and economic, sometimes also political. In my lecture I will discuss Czech songs that reflect these exoduses. Emigrant ballads are a significant subset of the phenomenon of Czech broadside ballads (ca. 1620-1900). Compared to other types of ballads, they are somewhat younger, most of them having been published in the second half of the 19th century, when the exodus was at its peak. Most of them concern migration to America, but we also find songs about emigration to Hungary, Russia and Poland. Based on the analysis of song discourses, I will focus on the representation of "differentness", and its typical narratives and motifs. On the basis of comparative analysis I will try to identify global features of emigrant ballads as well as possible local Czech specificities. I will also pay attention to issues of intermediality and reception, especially the intermingling of print and oral tradition. Finally, I will briefly compare my findings with the image of America in the travel and fictional discourse of Czech literature of the time. |
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