Born: 24 February 1830, Czechia
Died: 7 September 1899
Country most active: Czechia
Also known as: Johanna Nepomucena Rottová, Johanna Mužáková
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Born in Prague, she married Peter Muzak in 1852. The birthplace of her husband, the village of Svetla, influenced her life profoundly. Her husband introduced her to the Czech authoress Bozena Nemcova.
Four years before the death of Nemcova, Karolina Svetla began, herself, to write, taking as her pen name the name of the village, Svetla, which she frequently made the scene of the incidents of her stories. Her works consist of thirty volumes. She first wrote popular stories after the manner of Bozena Nemcova. Later her art matured until she was capable of interpreting the very soul of the folk. In the spirit of her day she wrote romantic historical novels valuable for showing the development of Czech society, and educational by virtue of their freedom of thought. Her novel. The Cross by the Stream, a picture of the religious struggles of typical country folk, exercised a powerful influence on the spiritual enlightenment of the country.
Svetla, following the example of Bozena Nemcova, took up the question of women’s rights, but on a much wider scale than did her friend who was ten years older. The Czech place Karolina Svetla among the pioneers of their nation