The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
ech, Svatopluk
(svä´tôplk chkh) (KEY) , 18461908, Czech poet and novelist. His strong Pan-Slavism and his love for democracy and freedom won him great popularity. His political enthusiasms animate many of his writings. Among echs major epics are The Adamites (1873), Zika (1879), and Václav of Michalovice (1880). He also wrote idyllic verse on Czech country life, notably In the Shade of the Linden Tree (1879), and satirical novels, including the utopian Excursion of Mr. Broucek to the Moon (1886).