Alois Jirásek (born in 1851) is the most popular writer of recent years in Bohemia. His fame rests primarily on his historical novels, in some of which he treats the heroic past of his country in thesame patriotic spirit in which Sienkiewicz has glorified the old days of Poland, while in another he describes the struggle of the Bohemian people, in the early years of the nineteenth century, to revive its own language and culture. His dramas deal with similar themes. Thus in “Dobromila Rettig” (already translated in “Poet Lore,” volume xxxi, pages 475–537) he chooses for his heroine one of the pioneers of Bohemian literature during the beginnings of the national revival one hundred years ago. In “The Lantern,” which is by far his most popular drama, he turns back to “the days of old,” when the Bohemians were struggling desperately against German oppression, and weaves into his work the poetic beliefs that have kept alive the faith and courage of the Bohemian folk.

All Bohemian names are accented on the first syllable. An oblique stroke over a vowel, as in the name of the author above, indicates the long quantity of the vowel, not the accent of the word.