A Look in J. A. Comenius’ Writer’s Workshop

Comenius’ notebook called Cries (or Calls) of Elias (Clamores Eliae), which has been known for a long time but so far has not been systematically explored, has recently become a subject of concentrated attention by scholars, because It is a significant document of his method of work and a rich source of information about the last-period of his literary creation.
Comenius started to keep his literary notebook in 1665, but some of his entries are of an earlier date. As early as 1662 Comenius had thought of writing a work whose central figure or speaker was to be the prophet Elias. The notebook proves the fact that in the last years of his life Comenius was primarily interested in political ideas and ideas of social reform. The notebook is also important for getting to know the Language of Comenius: in Czech his gradual disregard for quantity, in Latin decrease in Bohemisms.