Abstract
The tetralogy Ten, který bude (The One to Come) by Vladimír Macura is a panorama of the Czech society shortly before and after the Revolution of 1848. A literary theorist and critic, a novelist and translator of Estonian literature, Vladimír Macura (1945-1999) presents an ironic, myth-breaking approach to the process of building of Czech cultural identity during the National Revival.
The third volume of the tetralogy – The Governess (Guvernantka) – confronts the monologues of Antonie Čelakovská and her famous spouse, František Ladislav Čelakovský, poet-laureate and professor of Slavic languages at the University of Wroclaw. “Elegy” by genre definition, the book follows Antonie’s painful path from being a Muse of the Czech National Revival to becoming a governess to her husband’s children from his previous marriage, thus showing the problematic women’s role in XIXth century’s society.