Czech Voices: Stories from Texas in the Amerikan Narodni Kalendar

by Clinton Machann (Translator), James W. Mendl. Jr. (Translator)

Texas A&M University Press has released a paperback edition of Czech Stories from Texas in the Amerikán národní kalendá. Originally published in 1991, Czech Voices comprises ten short memoir-essays written by some of the earliest Czech immigrants to Texas. Translated and edited by Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl, Jr., Czech Voices offers a clear window to the lives of Czech immigrants on a difficult frontier.

Each of the ten autobiographical sketches had been published in the Amerikán národní kalendá (a Czech-language magazine in Chicago. (That publication’s founding by a freethinking political group explains the fact that many of the essays it published expressed some negative attitudes toward organized religion.)

Several motifs and themes that run through the collection loom especially hardships of the immigrants, religious conflicts, the American Civil War, ethnic identity, farming practices, and attitudes toward the land. Among the writers are important leaders, adventurers, journalists, and typical farmers, chosen for their identity or powers of expression or for the importance of the events they record. Their impressions, attitudes, and emotions bring to life an era that other sources rarely can.

Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl, Jr., who selected and translated these stories, provide an interpretive introduction, informative notes, and a bibliography that help to place the life stories in their historical and cultural context. These narratives had never before been generally available; historians interested in American immigration and ethnicity, as well as the descendants of immigrants, will appreciate both their valuable contribution and the pleasure of reading them.

184 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy read on different Czech immigrants in Texas. Fascinating history that is not taught much. Written well and is straight to the point.

[Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

refreshingly unique. This is mostly an historical text of ten immigrant families who moved from Czechoslavakia to different cities in Texas in the 1850's-appx 1900's. The stories are written by the immigrants themselves for an American Czech newspaper published in the 19th century. While it's not haute literature, the translators and editors did a great job in maintaining the integrity of the immigrant experience by preserving continuity of the timelie as well as the writers' voices. I appreciate that it's not written as literature, but as journal entries that speak of the everyday experience that can basically be broken down into: 1)how/when they left Czech and how/when they arrived to the US/Texas 2)how they settled down or created a life 3)what they did during the Civil War 4)life after the Civil War. Their suffering comes through and I can sympathize with the "everyday man" as a hero for having survived leaving one's home and establishing and thriving in a new one. I'm glad my small-town library had this in the "new book" section. I don't think I would've found it otherwise.

[Brendan Steinhauser · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Czech Voices" is an account of various Czech pioneers who made their way from Bohemia or Moravia to Texas in the 1850's and 1860's. The first hand accounts are fascinating, and make the reader appreciate the hardships that these pioneers endured, as well as their determination to preserve the Czech language and culture upon their arrival in Texas. As someone with Czech heritage, I especially enjoyed this book, edited by Texas A&M professor Clinton Machann. There are quite a few family names that I recognize from Fayette County, Lavaca County, Austin County, and other places in the Czech Texan heartland.