What is the best 19th-century Czech novel?

Village idylls share the shelf with Hussite epics and grim Prague naturalism, written while Czech was fighting its way back as a literary language.

1. 1
   The Grandmother

   Božena Němcová's 1855 Babička, a portrait of village life seen through a beloved grandmother, the most-read Czech classic.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Against All

   Jirásek's 1893 Proti všem, an epic of the early Hussite movement and the founding of Tábor.
   679pts
3. 3
   The Gypsies

   Karel Hynek Mácha's Romantic novel Cikáni, written in 1835 and published posthumously in 1857.
   678pts
4. 4
   F. L. Věk

   Jirásek's five-volume chronicle of the Czech National Revival through a Dobruška merchant's life.
   555pts
5. 5
   Santa Lucia

   Vilém Mrštík's 1893 novel of a provincial student destroyed by Prague, a landmark of Czech naturalism.
   555pts
6. 6
   Psohlavci

   Alois Jirásek's 1884 novel of the Chodsko peasants' revolt and their leader Jan Sladký Kozina.
   0pts
7. 7
   Kaliba's Crime

   Rais's 1892 Kalibův zločin, a dark village drama of greed and guilt in the Bohemian foothills.
   0pts
8. 8
   Jan Maria Plojhar

   Julius Zeyer's 1891 novel of a melancholy Czech patriot exiled in Italy, a key work of Czech decadence.
   0pts
9. 9
   The Cross by the Brook

   Karolina Světlá's 1868 Kříž u potoka, a passionate tale of a cursed family set in the Ještěd foothills.
   0pts
10. 10
    A Village Novel

    Světlá's 1867 Vesnický román, a study of loveless marriage and duty in a Czech village.
    0pts
11. 11
    At the Eaten-Up Shop

    Ignát Herrmann's 1890 U snědeného krámu, a tragic tale of a meek Prague shopkeeper.
    0pts

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