Josef Václav Sládek

Josef Václav Sládek, painting by Jan Vilímek

Josef Václav Sládek (27 October 1845 in Zbiroh – 28 June 1912 in Zbiroh)[1] was a Czech poet, journalist and translator, member of the literary group Lumírovci [cs], pioneer of children's poetry in Czech lands.[2]

Life

House in Vysoká where Sládek lived from 1897 to 1898

In 1865, he graduated at the Academic Gymnasium in Prague.[1] In 1867, he became suspected by the Austro-Hungarian police of supporting the Czech opposition movement against the monarchy.[1] In 1868 he moved to United States,[3] where he spent two years working as a laborer. He was interested in the fate of indigenous peoples and blacks. He described his American experience in a collection of poems (titled Poems) and in one prose (American images). His stay in the USA influenced him significantly. Throughout the rest of his life he focused on translating Anglo-American literature. He translated 33 plays by William Shakespeare and other works by Burns, Longfellow, Harte, Byron, Coleridge etc.[4] Less known fact is that Sládek translated the Czech anthem Kde domov můj into English.[5][6] Sládek was a good friend of Antonín Dvořák and from 1897 to 1898 lived in Vysoká u Příbramě close to Dvořák. His poems were set to music by Karel Bendl and Josef Bohuslav Foerster.

Works

Poetry

  • Básně (1875)
  • Jiskry na moři (1880)
  • Světlou stopou (1881)
  • Na prahu ráje (1883)
  • Ze života (1884)
  • Sluncem a stínem (1887)
  • Selské písně (1890)
  • České znělky
  • Starosvětské písničky (1891)
  • Směska (1891)
  • České písně (1892)
  • V zimním slunci (1897)
  • Nové selské písně
  • Za soumraku (1907)
  • Léthé a jiné básně (1908)

References

  1. ^ a b c Menclová, Věra; Vaněk, Václav, eds. (2005). Slovník českých spisovatelů (in Czech). Prague: Libri. pp. 599–600. ISBN 80-7277-179-5.
  2. ^ "Josef Václav Sládek - LAROUSSE".
  3. ^ "Josef Václav Sládek: inspirace v Americe – Cestovatelské legendy a současní cestovatelé – cestování, poznávání, dobrodružství". Hedvabnastezka.cz. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  4. ^ "Sládek, Josef Václav, *27.10.1845 – †28.6.1912, český básník, překladatel, žurnalista – CoJeCo.cz – Vaše encyklopedie". CoJeCo.cz. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  5. ^ "St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, March 28, 1892, Image 2". 28 March 1892. p. 2.
  6. ^ "Lidove Noviny". Retrieved 9 December 2023 – via PressReader.
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