Hana Gregorová (30 January 1885 – 11 December 1958) was a Slovak author who explored women's lives in realistic terms and often focused on the issues of women's emancipation and inequalities with men.

Life

Hana Gregorová was born Anna Božena Lilgová on 30 January 1885 in Turócszentmárton in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

(now Martin, Slovakia). Largely self-educated, she married the realist writer

Jozef Gregor-Tajovský Jozef Gregor, better known as Jozef Gregor-Tajovský (18 November 1874 – 20 May 1940), was a Slovak novelist, playwright, poet, teacher, and politician. As a novelist, he is considered to be a leading figure of the second wave of Slovak liter ...

in 1907 and they had a daughter, Dagmar Prášilová, who was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

in 1916. The family lived in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, from 1921 until her husband's death in 1940 at which time she moved to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, then part of the German-controlled

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...

, to live with her daughter's family. She died on 11 December 1958.

Works

Gregorová edited the magazine ''Slovak East'' ( sk, Slovenský východ) while the family lived in

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

, Czechoslovakia, from 1919 to 1921. She later organized lectures on Czech and Slovak literature and art for the Society of Artists ( sk, Umelecká beseda) and addressed the Congress of Slovak Writers in 1936 calling for children's literature to be realistic and not idealized. Gregorová was a member of the Society for Cultural Contacts with the USSR ( sk, Spoločnosť pre kultúrne styky so Zväzom SSR) and briefly became Chairwoman of the Union of Slovak Women ( sk, Zväz slovenských žien) after 1945. From her first book of short stories published in 1912, ''Women'' ( sk, Ženy), Gregorová "revealed a deep empathy with women and a great interest in women’s emancipation. Gregorová explored the lives of women across the spectrum of social classes and generations, protesting against gender and other social inequalities. At the same time, she attempted to describe the inner, emotional lives of her female protagonists, primarily focusing on marriage and partnerships with men and the desire of women for alternatives, for more independent means of living."Farkašová, p. 167

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregorova, Hana 1885 births 1958 deaths Slovak feminists Slovak writers People from Martin, Slovakia