May

Often compared to Byron, Keats, Shelley, and Poe, Mácha was the greatest Czech Romantic poet, and the most influential. May, his epic masterpiece, was published in April 1836, just seven months before his death. Considered the pearl of Czech poetry, it is a tale of seduction, revenge, and patricide. As a paean to his homeland, Czechs can recite the first stanzas of the poem from memory, and new editions still regularly appear in Czech bookstores. The poem’s popularity and longevity lie in its music and innovative use of language. Mácha’s work has been largely ignored in English translation but this volume, the sole to exist in English, provides

* the original Czech text in parallel

* an introduction by Craig Cravens, Chair of Czech Studies at the University of Texas