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The complete edition of T. G. Masaryk's writings is finished

One of the most challenging editorial undertakings after 1989 has come to a conclusion. In cooperation with the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v. v. i., and the T. G. Masaryk Institute, o. p. s., a complete edition of the works of the first Czechoslovak president in Czech has been completed. The comprehensive critical edition, which the researchers will present for the first time as a whole at the World Book Fair on Friday, 10 June, also includes many of Masaryk's almost forgotten texts - for example, texts on literature, articles from the foreign press and various political speeches. The complete writings will allow a relevant interpretation of TGM's work: without pathos and myths.

The writings of T. G. Masaryk were published by scholars successively between 1993 and 2022, and the edition eventually includes 39 volumes (an appendix will add a volume with indexes and contents of the volumes).

The presentation of the Papers will take place on Friday, 10 June 2022 at 4 pm in the hall of the Atelier Evropa at the Prague Exhibition Grounds in Bubenč. It will be attended by the editor-in-chief and author of the concept of the Writings Jiří Brabec and historians Josef Tomeš, Vratislav Doubek and Petr Zídek, and will include a debate in which the public can participate.

Neither daddy nor philosopher on the throne

The writings of T. G. Masaryk represent a demanding editorial project, unique in its scope in the Czech environment after 1989. "Many texts, especially articles from the contemporary press, have been published in book form for the first time ever," says Jiří Brabec, literary historian, critic and managing editor of the edition. "Yet Masaryk, who significantly shaped Czech society for more than fifty years, speaks in a surprisingly new voice: not as a 'daddy' , nor as a wise philosopher on a throne, but as a polemicist who did not recognise external authorities, an educated European who entered the public arena with a kind of self-evidence," emphasises Jiří Brabec.

In his view, the complete works of Masaryk create a barrier against misinterpretations of Masaryk's legacy. "Before Masaryk became president - and partly even afterwards - he was hated by a large part of Czech society. It is not just a question of his moral resilience. He didn't want to be liked, he held his freedom in spite of it. This defiance is relevant today," adds Jiří Brabec.

One hundred years after the first plans

During his lifetime, T. G. Masaryk published hundreds of different texts: philosophical and sociological monographs, analytical, reflective or survey studies, topical political commentaries, polemics, as well as literary criticism, interviews and memoirs. Many of his articles in the periodical press were unsigned or signed with ciphers, and the texts were often reprinted in various languages.

The complete works of Masaryk are coming into the hands of the Czech academic and wider reading public almost a hundred years after the first plans to publish them - dating back to the 1920s. In 1923, Masaryk's literary secretary Vasil Kaprálek Škrach was entrusted with the task of publishing and re-editing the president's works. At that time he divided the project of the Writings into 32 volumes and managed to publish the first seven by 1939. After the Second World War, the work was continued and the plan of the edition was changed to 48 volumes. It was banned by the Communist regime in 1954, only scholarly discussions in dissent continued, and it was not resumed until 1990.

Writings of T. G. Masaryk - overview of individual volumes

  1. Suicide (a mass social phenomenon of modern enlightenment), ed. Jindřich Srovnal (1998)
  2. Basic Concrete Logic (Classification and the System of Sciences), eds. Jiří Olšovský and Jindřich Srovnal (2001)
  3. An Attempt at Concrete Logic (Classification and System of Sciences), ed. Jindřich Srovnal (2001)
  4. University Lectures, eds. Jiří Gabriel, Milan Jelínek, Helena Pavlincová, Jan Zouhar (2012)
  5. The Czech Question. Our present crisis. Jan Hus, ed. Jiří Brabec (2000)
  6. Karel Havlicek. Aspirations and Desires of Political Awakening, ed. Jana Svobodová (1996)
  7. Modern Man and Religion, eds. Jiří Gabriel, Helena Pavlincová and Jan Zouhar (2000)
  8. The Social Question. Foundations of Marxism Philosophical and Sociological, I-II, ed. Jindřich Srovnal (2000)
  9. Russia and Europe, eds. Jiří Franěk, Zdeňka Fraňková, Jan Pochman (vol. I, 1995), Jan Pochman and Vladimír Svatoň (vol. II, 1996), Vratislav Doubek and František Kautman (vol. III/1-2, 1996)
  10. New Europe, ed. Vojtěch Kessler (2016)
  11. World Revolution. During the War and in the War 1914-1918, ed. Jindřich Srovnal (2005)
  12. Juvenilia. Studies and essays 1876-1881, ed. Stanislav Polák (1993)
  13. Lectures and Studies 1882-1884 (Hume - Pascal - Buckle - On the Study of Works of Poetry), eds. Jiří Brabec and Stanislav Polák (1998)
  14. From the Beginnings of the Athenaeum (1883-1885), ed. Jiří Franěk (2004)
  15. From the Struggle for the Manuscripts (1886-1888), ed. Jana Svobodová (2004)
  16. Slavic Studies and Other Works from 1889-1891, eds. Jiří Gabriel, Helena Pavlincová and Jan Zouhar (2007)
  17. Parliamentary Speeches 1891-1893, eds. Vratislav Doubek, Zdeněk Kárník and Martin Kučera (2001)
  18. Our Time (1892-1894), ed. Jiří Flaišman (2017)
  19. Between Literature and Politics (1895-1897), ed. Jiří Flaišman (2022)
  20. Hilsneriad 1, 2 (1898-1900), ed. Luboš Merhaut (2019)
  21. Ideals of the Humanities and Other Works from 1901-1903, ed. Michal Kosák (2011)
  22. From Struggles over Religion (1904-1906), ed. Michal Topor (2014)
  23. Democracy in Politics (1907-1910), eds. Vojtěch Kessler and Marie L. Neudorflová (2020)
  24. Politics through Science and Art (1911-1914), ed. Jana Malínská (2011)
  25. Parliamentary Speeches 1907-1914, eds. Vratislav Doubek, Zdeněk Kárník and Martin Kučera (2002)
  26. War and Revolution 1 (1914-1916), eds. Karel Pichlík, Dagmar Hájková and Richard Vašek (2005)
  27. War and Revolution 2 (1917), eds. Karel Pichlík and Zdenko Maršálek (2008)
  28. War and Revolution 3 (1918), eds. Karel Pichlík and Vojtěch Kessler (2017)
  29. The Path of Democracy 1 (1918-1920), eds. Vojtěch Fejlek and Richard Vašek (2003)
  30. Journey of Democracy 2 (1921-1923), eds. Richard Vašek and Vojtěch Fejlek (2007)
  31. Journey of Democracy 3 (1924-1928), ed. Vojtěch Fejlek (1994)
  32. Journey of Democracy 4 (1929-1936), ed. Vojtěch Fejlek (1997)
  33. Karel Čapek: Conversations with TGM, ed. Jiří Opelík (2013)
  34. Emil Ludwig: Spirit and Action, ed. Emile Ludwig, Emil Ludwig (2012) Jana Malínská (2012)
  35. Programmes of Masaryk's Political Parties (1900-1912), ed. 1900-191962 (2019) Jana Malínská (2019)
  36. List of Writings. Indexes