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Jaroslav Marek on Contemporary Historiography of the Mid-20th Century

Publication at Catholic Theological Faculty |
2018

Abstract

The study deals with the genesis and problems associated with the publication of Jaroslav Marek's article entitled Proudy ve světové historiografii po druhé světové válce (Currents in World Historiography after the Second World War), which was originally to have introduced the last chapter of the book Přehledné dějiny českého a slovenského dějepisectví (General History of Czech and Slovak Historiography) by František Kutnar and Jaroslav Marek. The text was based on Marxist thinking of the 1960s, open to dialogue with other currents of historical thought, and is distinguished by its synthesising character and its factual overview of the state of world historiography at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century.

However, it was written up and due for publication in a situation of renewed ideological pressure following the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. The author of the article and František Kutnar therefore decided to step back from their original intentions and to change the character of the entire final chapter in order to avoid rejection of what was overall exceptionally good work.