Josef Hora
Josef Hora | |
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Born | Dobříň, Austria-Hungary | 8 July 1891
Died | 21 June 1945 Prague, Czechoslovakia | (aged 53)
Resting place | Slavín |
Occupation | Poet |
Nationality | Czech |
Signature | |
Josef Hora (8 July 1891 – 21 June 1945) was a Czechoslovak poet, literary critic and journalist.
Biography
Early life
Josef Hora was born in
Communist career and the schism from the Party
After graduating from a university (1916) with the help of
1930s, against Nazism and Hora's death
In 1933, Hora became an editor of the cultural pages of the České slovo newspaper [4] and he also edited several literary journals.[3] He was elected president of the Society of Czech Writers in 1934 and worked against the fascist menace from outside and inside.[4]
He travelled a lot in the 1930s (Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia).[3]
In 1938, he was one of the initiators of the petition Věrni zůstaneme! eventually signed by more than a million people.
Legacy
A day after his death, Josef Hora was nominated as National Artist (a title that had been granted only to living artists since 1932) and became the first to be awarded posthumously.[4] He was counted among Communist writers in Czechoslovakia (1948–1989) and his disillusionment with Stalinism was concealed.
List of major works
Poetry
His work created a link with Czech prewar modernism, closely associated with the literary trends of its time.[3] He always stood apart the modern -isms and literary groups such as Devětsil.[6]
- Básně – 1915
- Strom v květu – 1920
- Itálie – 1925
- Struny ve větru – 1927
- Mít křídla – 1928
- Tvůj hlas – 1930
- Tonoucí stíny – 1933
- Dvě minuty ticha – 1934
- Tiché poselství – 1936
- Máchovská variace – 1936
- Domov – 1938
- Jan houslista – 1939
Prose
- Hladový rok – 1926
- Socialistické naděje – 1922
- Dech na skle – 1938
Translation
A sample of Hora's poetry
"Christ at the parting of the ways" is a poem from the collection Strom v květu ("A Tree in Blossom") published in 1920 which established the author's reputation.[12]
Kristus na rozcestí |
Christ at the Parting of the Ways |
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Two strophes from Máchovské variace (part III, 1936) present one of Hora′s views of the nature of Czech Romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha on the occasion of the centenary of his death:[13]
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"Shadow" is a poem from the collection Struny ve větru ("Strings in the Wind", 1927), acclaimed by critics (e.g. F.X. Šalda[14]) and poets (e.g. Vladimír Holan[7] and Jaroslav Seifert[14]).[15]
Stín |
Shadow |
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References
- ^ Webpage of the birth home of Josef Hora (in Czech)
- ^ a b Marie Baboráková: Josef Hora (in Czech)
- ^ a b c d Šárka Nevidalová: Josef Hora Archived 2004-05-15 at the Wayback Machine (in English)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Czech edition of Who was who Archived 2004-05-15 at the Wayback Machine (in Czech)
- ^ ed. Milan Blahynka: Čeští spisovatelé 20. století, Praha, Československý spisovatel (in Czech)
- ^ a b c d Zdeněk Kalista: Josef Hora, in: Tváře ve stínu, České Budějovice 1969, pp. 75-98
- ^ a b Vladimír Holan: Byl to velký přítel..., in: Bagately X, Praha 1988, pp. 362-364
- ^ Miloslav Novotný: epilogue to the novel Dech na skle, Praha 1948 (in Czech)
- ^ Josef Hora: Literatura a politika (in Czech)
- ^ Týden magazine 25 December 2008 (in Czech)
- ^ V boj, 10.5. 2000 (in Czech)
- ^ Josef Hora: Strom v květu, Praha 1927, p.19
- ^ Josef Hora: Máchovské variace, Praha 1936, p.13
- ^ a b Jaroslav Seifert: Všecky krásy světa, Praha 1985, p. 214
- ^ Josef Hora: Struny ve větru, Praha 1927, p. 35