by Michael Wögerbauer
in: Histoire et civilisation du livre. Revue internationale, rédacteur en chef Frédéric Barbier, IV (2008) (« Imprimer la langue »), 149–173.
This study introduces the concept of vernacularization in the context of the literary history of Bohemia around 1800.... more
This study introduces the concept of vernacularization in the context of the literary history of Bohemia around 1800. National philologists, to some extent until today, examine this literature
based on 19th-century national and aesthetic criteria (i.e. the notion of „genius“, originality etc.) which, as the author argues, do not suit an analysis of multi-lingual pre-Romantic culture. Without intending to replace the popular and politically relevant narrative of the National Revival, the concept of vernacularization attempts to generate a comparatively oriented discussion regarding the transition (beginning around 1760) from the multi-lingual cultures of a stratified society (the nobility, the clergy, the common people etc.) into separate, linguistically defined regional and subsequently national cultures and especially national literatures in the first half of the 19th century.
Vernacularization is defined as a form of knowledge transfer between cultures considered to have different places in a European cultural hierarchy. The „higher“ or „classical“ cultures serve as the vehicles for the transfer of culture; they are supposed to be quite independent of regional contexts and thus can be interregionally recognized as exemplary; in a stratified society they are accessible mainly to the elites. That redestines them to serve as a means of representation.
„Vernacularization“ indicates the efforts by a region’s intellectual elites to make this arcane knowledge (or at least its „useful“ arts) accessible to their uneducated compatriots (in the Middle Ages mainly to the secular elite, in the 18th and 19th centuries above all to the „folk“). This dissemination of useful knowledge in support of the general good is described aptly by Joseph Anton Riegger as the obligation of the ideal „enlightened patriot.“
Therefore, the „logic“ of vernacularization should not be limited to one country or one era; on the contrary, the concept should ncourage comparison and simultaneously provide insight into the inner hierarchy of European cultures into which regional culture would be integrated.
In this context, all „mature“ cultures (not only those of antiquity) can be considered exemplary or model cultures. The theme of knowledge transfer as a service to the homeland, in spite of significant differences determined by time and place, can be traced through various examples: from Cicero (Greece-Rome) to Dante Alighieri (Roman and Provençal culture to Italy), Du Bellay
(Roman and Italian culture to France) and finally to Frederick II (Italian, English and French culture to protestant Germany), through the inaugural lecture (1765) of the Freiburg (and later
Prague) professor of law Joseph Anton Riegger, whose detailed defense of his decision to lecture in German rather than in Latin is a central text in this study. Vernacularization is motivated not only by a enlightened utilitarian knowledge transfer to serve the own land, but also by the desire to see one’s own land included in the the hierarchy of „enlightened“ nations.
The author also suggests that vernacularization, in the sense of adapting an already established high culture to a regional level, should not be limited to the medium of language. The role of language is admittedly as important as it is problematic; for example, in the case of the multi-ethnic Bohemian lands, a linguistic doubling took place. This problem is illustrated by the not uncontested introduction of German-language lectures at the university in Prague, „identity politics“-motivated attempts to establish the equivalence of local languages (F. J. von Kinský’s
1773 call, written in German, to regard Czech as the language of the „Czech lands“) or other – Czech and German – defenses of vernacular language(s), literature(s) and culture(s) versus
the established elite cultures such as Latin, French or (north) German. Especially significant are institutions that are either vernacularized by the „enlightened“ higher classes for utilitarian
reasons (e.g. originally Latin-based educational institutions, as well as their libraries, which are opened to the public) or institutions that were created for the transfer of knowledge and, usually (co-) established by the secular elite, combine both patriotic motives: compulsory education in the vernacular language, semi-public associations and institutions such as the Freemasons,
reading and lending libraries, newspaper associations, museums (e.g. the „patriotic“ museum
of the Prague typographer J. F. Schönfeld) etc.
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