Fraňo Kráľ (9 March 1903 – 3 January 1955) was a Slovak poet, novelist and politician who was a leading representative of
Socialist realist literature in Czechoslovakia.
Biography
He was born in Ohio, United States, in the family of Slovak immigrants. At the age of two, he returned to Slovakia with his mother in the city of Smrečany, while the family's financial situation was very poor. After receiving his primary education, Kráľ started to work as a teacher after his graduation from the pedagogical school in Spišská Nová Ves.
During his studies, due to his poor diet, he contracted typhus, which left permanent traces in his body, and later lung disease was a direct consequence of it. He enlisted in the military, but soon contracted tuberculosis. He was treated in Tatranské Matliary. He later moved to the Czech sanatorium Prosečnice. Not yet properly treated, he was released from the sanatorium and began working as a teacher in Okoličné, later he was transferred to the small village of Kováčovce in the district of Modrý Kameň and other places. In 1921, he became a member of the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
In 1931 he came to Bratislava for work, but due to his communist convictions he was fired and forced to retire. During the period of the fascist
Slovak State
Slovak may refer to:
* Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'')
* Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group
* Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages
* Slovak, Arka ...
, he was a member underground resistance.
After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and liberation, he worked at the Commission of Education, was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, a member of the
Slovak National Council and a member of the presidency of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers.
In 1953, Kráľ received the title of National Artist.
Works
The beginning of the literary activity started in the period of his treatment in hospitals and sanatoriums in Slovakia, when he published his first poems, some of which were published in publications such as ''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...
'' and ''Nový život''.
Initially, he created his works under the influence of proletarian poetry, later poetism and symbolism. In his novels, he depicted the socio-political situation in Slovakia between the two world wars, the horrors and sufferings of the war. His writing style became close to socialist realism, in which there was an
anti-religious
Antireligion is opposition to religion. It involves opposition to organized religion, religious practices or religious institutions. The term ''antireligion'' has also been used to describe opposition to specific forms of supernatural worship ...
and later
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
tendency and an exaltation of
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
ideology.
[D. Hajko, Začiatky marxistickej filozofie na Slovenska, Bratislava, Pravda, 1987.]
In addition to prose, novels and poetry, Král has written children's books as well, works which have become an integral part of Slovak literature for children and have been translated into numerous foreign languages.
Poetry
* 1930 - ''Čerň na palete'' ("Black on the palette"), collection of poems;
* 1931 - ''Balt'' ("Baltic"), collection of poems;
* 1936 - ''Pohľadnice'' ("Illustrated postcards"), collection of poems;
* 1945 - ''Z Noci do úsvitu'' ("From night to dawn"), collection of poems;
* 1952 - ''Jarnou cestou'' ("On the road to spring"), collection of poems.
Prose
* 1934 - ''Cesta zarúbaná'' ("The cut road"), novel;
* 1945 - ''Stretnutie'' ("Encounter"), novel (written in 1937 );
* 1949 - ''Za krajší život'' ("For a more beautiful life"), commemorative novel;
* 1952 - ''Bude ako nebolo'' ("It will be as it was not"), novel.
Children's literature
* 1931 - ''Jano'', autobiographical prose;
* 1932 - ''Čenkovej deti''.
Other
* 1946 - ''Keď sa časy menia'' ("When times change"), drama;
* 1961 - ''Fraňo Kráľ učiteľom'' ("Fraňo Kráľ teacher"), collection of speeches, articles, documents.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kráľ, Fraňo
1903 births
1955 deaths
Slovak poets
Slovak male writers
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians
Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
20th-century Slovak writers
Socialist realism writers
Slovak dramatists and playwrights
Slovak children's writers
Slovak communists
Slovak anti-fascists
Communist Party of Slovakia (1939) politicians