英文摘要 |
A nation is a community which is composed of objective factors, such as common gene, language, history, and culture, at the same time based on a common belief, attitude and perception. However, if the elements of a nation are not a natural and primordial phenomenon, then they should have been created or constructed. In Anderson's term, a nation can be also an “imagined community” (Anderson, 1991: 6), and narrative is one of the most important approaches to construct such imagined community. This paper takes the legend of Libuse/Libuše, which generally spreads in Czechia, as the ancestor of the Premyslid/Přemyslovci dynasty and the Czech people. Within a diachronic approach to investigate the legend of Libuse, and the way how the historians, writers and artists represented this legend figure, it is discovered that these narratives and representation not only is the Czech people's historical experience and the ethnic group collective memories, but also reflect the complex activities intended to enhance the Czech national identity in the process of Czech national revival during the period from the 18th century to the 19th century. On the other hand, this paper also intends to discuss the borderline between “imagination” and “reality”, and “legend” and “history”, and at the same time to investigate the social and cultural characteristics of Czech nation. |