An Example and a Scandal: On the Reception of Deml’s Testimony About Otokar Březina

Deml’s most comprehensive book, My Testimony About Otokar Březina (1931), provoked a wave of outrage in the Czechoslovakian press on publication. This contribution examines a sample of ten different texts written at the time and on this basis outlines the main narratives adopted by the participants in the debate as well as their motivations, methods of argumentation and, finally, the key topics discussed. It determines the central motif in the debate to be the image of a dead poet which represented a key element in the mythology of the recently founded republic