Understanding the Moment. How Time Was Experienced in Czech Culture in the 19th Century

The book contains papers presented at the 38th annual Plzeň Interdisciplinary Symposium, devoted to the theme of time in the life of people and society in the “long” 19th century. The authors of the individual studies devote attention both to how time was experienced and perceived by different social classes – the aristocracy and the non-privileged inhabitants of the countryside and the towns – and also to the various meanings or values attributed to past, present, and future time. Time and adherence to it, especially in the working sphere, are here viewed as effective means of maintaining discipline. The art-historical papers, however, also present various ways in which 19th-century people tried to free themselves from the shackles of precisely measured time.