Jan Balabán
Jan Balabán | |
|---|---|
 Jan Balabán in 2007 | |
| Born | 29 January 1961 Šumperk, Czechoslovakia |
| Died | 23 April 2010 (aged 49) |
| Occupation | Writer, journalist, translator |
| Nationality | Czech (Moravian Silesian) |
| Citizenship | European (EU) from 2004 |
| Period | 1980s–2010 |
| Genre | Existentialism, art criticism, technical translation |
| Literary movement | Prirozeni |
Jan Balabán (29 January 1961 – 23 April 2010) was a
existentialist whose works often dealt with the wretched and desperate aspects of the human condition
.
Partial biography
Balabán was actually born in
freelance translator and journalist, making regular contributions to the magazine Respekt. He also translated the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Terry Eagleton
into Czech.
In the 1990s, he, along with Petr Hruška, participated in publishing the magazine Landek. Speaking of his steel-town home city, he recalled
exhibitions, catalogs and newspapers. A founding member of the group Prirozeni (The Natural – founded 1980), Balabán helped proliferate the underground arts community and rehabilitate the urban landscape by organizing exhibitions in attics, hallways, in subways and on slag heaps in the suburbs of Ostrava. One of Balabán's most important works, Možná že odcházíme (It May Be That We Go), is a collection of twenty stories in just a hundred pages. The stories deal with characters inspired by people from his home city and the difficult periods in their lives as they suffer disappointments and failures at work and home.[2]
Balabán died on 23 April 2010 at the age of 49. In the week leading up to his death, he was at a month-long authors' festival held in both his home town of Ostrava and Brno.[3] Balabán was divorced with two children. In the last three years he had been working on a new book that dealt with the death of his father.
Published works
- Středověk (Mittelalter), Sfinga, 1995 – Středověk (Middle Ages), Sfinga, 1995 – Stories
- Boží lano (Gottes Seil), Vetus Via, 1998 – Boží lano (God's Rope), Vetus Via, 1998 – Stories
- Prázdniny (Ferien), Host, 1998 – Prázdniny (Holiday), host, 1998 – Narratives
- Černý beran (Der schwarze Widder), Host, 2000 – Černý beran (The Black Ram), host, 2000 – Roman
- Srdce draka (Das Herz des Drachen), Aluze, 2001 – Srdce Draka (The Heart of the Dragon), Aluze, 2001 – Comic
- Kudy šel anděl (Wohin der Engel ging), Vetus Via, 2003, Host, 2005 – Kudy šel anděl (Where the Angel Went), Vetus Via, 2003, Host, 2005 – Roman
- Možná že odcházíme (Kann sein, dass wir gehen), Host, 2004 – Možná že odcházíme (It May Be That We Go), Host, 2004 – Stories
- Jsme tady (Wir sind hier), Host, 2006 – "Eine Geschichte in zehn Erzählungen" Tady jsme (We Are Here), Host, 2006 – "A story in ten stories"
- Bezruč?!, 2009 – drama (along with Ivan Motyl, first mentioned in 2009 in Ostrava Petr Bezruč Theatre)
Awards
- "It May Be That We Go" – the Magnesia Litera 2005 for prose – as well as a nomination for the "State Prize for Literature".
References
- ^ Jan Balabán Obituary, aktualne.centrum.cz, retrieved 19 August 2014
- ^ 05-02-2005, Václav Richter -
- ^ "Zemřel spisovatel Jan Balabán - Novinky.cz".
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jan Balabán.
- 2005 Český rozhlas article
- Jan Balabán on Facebook
- "A Child on Fire" Translated from the Czech by Ivory Rodriguez
- Czech mini-biography in English
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