Playwright František Adolf Šubert

The first director of the National Theatre, František Adolf Šubert (1849–1915), an exceptionally active and distinguished man in several respects, had not yet published a monograph. By making available a revised manuscript written by journalist, art critic and literary historian Antonín Veselý (1888–1945) about F. A. To Šubrt as a playwright, we are paying off part of the debt of Czech cultural historiography to this great, founding and almost half-forgotten personality. < br> The author and, following in his footsteps, the editor of the publication follow Šubrt throughout the development of his dramatic work, unjustly underestimated in the past, from his student beginnings through the difficult overcoming of romantic aesthetics and contemporary French influences to several serious attempts at contemporary realistic drama, which played a current pioneering role in Czech dramatic production. The author convincingly proves their seriousness, based on thorough source study and in a broader cultural and political context.