Karel Sabina
Karel Sabina was a Czech writer and journalist.
Life
Karel Sabina grew up in poverty as an extramarital child of a daughter of a sugar producing factory's director in the family of a bricklayer and a washerwoman. Sabina later claimed that he was an illegitimate son of a Polish noble. He studied philosophy and law, but did not graduate. In 1848, Sabina became one of the leaders of the Czech radical democrats, the founder of a secret radical political circle "Repeal", a member of the National Committee and the Czech congress. Sabina published many articles to magazines during this period.
Imprisonment
In 1849, he was arrested for taking part in the "May Coup" and in 1851 sentenced to death together with 24 other men; but these sentences were changed by Emperor Franz Joseph I to 18 years in the Olomouc prison; in 1857 he was released, following the Emperor's general amnesty of May 8. He came back to Prague and lived as a freelance writer.
Allegations of betrayal
In 1870, the newspaper Vaterland accused Sabina of being a police informant. Sabina successfully sued the newspaper for a libel. In 1872, in an unofficial trial by a self-appointed jury of eight Czech intellectuals, Karel Sabina was found guilty of being an informant. Sabina, unable to find exile abroad, was forced to live in hiding in Prague. For the rest of his life, Karel Sabina denied the accusations. The reasons of Sabina's alleged cooperation with the police are not quite clear; if it happened, it might have been a combination of disillusion with the failed revolution which resulted in his long imprisonment, constant police pressure afterwards and his extreme poverty. Being an outcast - his books were no longer sold, on posters his name was replaced by his initials, and he risked physical attacks whenever he appeared on the streets. However, he continued to write under pen names, some of which are unknown today, thus greatly complicating the historians' effort to make Sabina's bibliography of articles complete.
Death
Sabina died in poverty and scorn on 8 November 1877, aged 63. General exhaustion being given as the cause of death.
Selected works
As a journalist, he wrote mainly for Květy, Moravský Týdenník, Humorist, Lípa, Pražské noviny and Wčela.
Novels
Hrobník, SextonBlouznění, RaptureHedvika, HedwigJen tři léta!, Three years only!Na poušti, In the desertOživené hroby, Enlivened Graves, inspired by his imprisonment, his best novelMorana čili Svět a jeho nicoty, ''Morana or The World and its Nothingnesses''
Plays
Černá růže, The Black RoseInzerát, AdvertisementŠašek Jiřího z Poděbrad, Jester of George of PoděbradyMaloměstské klepny, ''Smalltown Gossipmongers''
Tales
Obrazy ze 14. a 15. věku, Tales from the 14th and the 15th centuryPovídky, pověsti, obrazy a novely, ''Stories, legends, tales and novellas''
Librettos
Prodaná nevěsta, by Bedřich SmetanaBraniboři v Čechách, by Bedřich SmetanaStarý ženich, by Karel BendlV studni, by Vilém Blodek
Others
Básně, PoemsÚvod povahopisný, Introduction to a temperament – the first study on Karel Hynek Mácha, who was Sabina's friend. This book recognised and illustrated Mácha's importance and genius.Duchovní komunismus, Spiritual Communism – about everyone's right for educationDějiny literatury československé, ''The History of the Czechoslovak Literature''
Karel Sabina is mentioned in several poems in prose by Ivan Wernisch.