Abstract
The material study focuses on the correspondence between the poet and publicist J. S.
Machar and the philosopher and politician T. G.
Masaryk between 1897 and 1900 (it accompanies the publication in the TGM Correspondence series), which reflects the socio-political, cultural and literary events and controversies of the time in a unique dialogue and reveals the background of the ongoing debate on modernism. From a literary-historical point of view, it focuses on the factors that shed light on the background of the period's fundamental ideas and controversies (including the so-called "Hilsneriada").