Ivan Blatný (; 21 December 1919 in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

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

– 5 August 1990 in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

poet and a member of '' Skupina 42 (Group 42).

Life

Blatný, the son of the writer Lev Blatný, was a member of the ''Skupina 42'' (Group 42 - association of Czech modern artists). In March 1948, after the communist seizure of power in his native country, Blatný left his country - just one of many figures in

Czech Literature Czech literature can refer to literature written in Czech, in the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia, earlier the Lands of the Bohemian Crown), or by Czech people. Most literature in the Czech Republic is now written in Czech, but histor ...

who chose to emigrate rather than go underground. However, he found life in exile difficult, as did many other émigré Czech writers such as Ivan Diviš. During his subsequent life in the United Kingdom, he spent time in various mental hospitals, suffering from paranoid fear that

StB State Security ( cs, Státní bezpečnost, sk, Štátna bezpečnosť) or StB / ŠtB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it d ...

agents will kidnap him back to Czechoslovakia. From 1984 until shortly before his death, he lived in a retirement home in

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated a ...

. A plaque commemorating his stay can be seen on the wall of the Edensor Care Home in Orwell Road. His ashes were taken to the Central Cemetery in Brno.''Eva Bloch u.a. (Hg.): Grundbegriffe und Autoren ostmitteleuropäischer Exilliteraturen 1945-1989. Ein Beitrag zur Systematisierung und Typologisierung. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2004, ) '' In 2017 a new road on the site of the old St Clements Hospital in

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was named Ivan Blatny Close in memory of the one time resident.

Works

At the beginning of his career, Blatný mostly wrote using conventional rhyming and rhythmic forms such as alexandrine quatrains, most notably in the ''Brno Elegies'' (Czech, ''Melancholické procházky''; Prague: Melantrich, 1941). The correct translation of the Czech title is 'Melancholic Walks', but Blatný's original title ''Brněnské elegie'' was forbidden by the war-time censor for its suggestion that the poet might have been regretful about the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. The poems themselves make no reference whatsoever to contemporary events, but concentrate on Brno and its hinterland, with a beautiful hypnotic lyricism.

Publications

* ''Melancholické procházky'' (Prague: Melantrich, 1941) * ''Tento večer'' (1945) * ''Hledání přítomného času'' (1947) * ''Stará bydliště'' (1979) * ''Pomocná škola Bixley'' (1979; Praha: KDM 1982) * ''Ivan Blatný: The Drug of Art. Selected Poems'', ed. Veronika Tuckerová (New York:

Ugly Duckling Presse Ugly Duckling Presse is an American nonprofit art and publishing collective based in Brooklyn, New York City founded in 1993 by Matvei Yankelevich as a college zine. It publishes poetry, translations, lost works, and artist's books. A micro pr ...

, 2007). Translations by

Anna Moschovakis Anna Elizabeth Moschovakis is a Greek American poet, author, and translator. Early life Moschovakis was born to an American mother and a Greek father. She split her time growing up between the U.S. and Greece, where her father owned what she ...

, Matthew Sweney,

Justin Quinn Justin Quinn (born 1968 in Dublin) is an Irish poet and critic. He received a doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin, where his contemporaries included poets David Wheatley, Caitriona O'Reilly and Sinéad Morrissey, and now lives with his wife ...

, Veronika Tuckerová,

Alex Zucker Alex Zucker (born September 1, 1964) is an American literary translator. Life and career Zucker was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From ages 4 to 17, he lived in East Lansing, Michigan. He attended college at University of Massachusetts Amh ...

Criticism

* Nenik, Francis, ''The Marvel of Biographical Bookkeeping''. Translated from German by Katy Derbyshire, Readux Books 2013
Sample
* Hejda, Zbyněk, 'Passer-By: The Poetry of Ivan Blatný'. ''Metre'' 12 (Autumn 2002): 171-84. * See also, ''Ivan Blatný: The Drug of Art'' (2007) for essays by

Josef Škvorecký Josef Škvorecký (; September 27, 1924 – January 3, 2012) was a Czech-Canadian writer and publisher. He spent half of his life in Canada, publishing and supporting banned Czech literature during the communist era. Škvorecký was awarded the ...

, Veronika Tuckerová and Antonín Petruželka.
Review of ''The Drug of Art'', by Benjamin Paloff
''The Nation'' (December 24, 2007) * Review of ''The Drug of Art'', by David Wheatley, ''

Contemporary Poetry Review Garrick Davis (born 1971 in Los Angeles) is an American poet and critic. He was Poetry Editor of ''First Things'' magazine from 2020 until 2021. Career Davis is the founding editor of the ''Contemporary Poetry Review'', the largest online arch ...

'' (October 200

References

External links

Edensor Care Home and location of plaque
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blatny, Ivan 1919 births 1990 deaths Czech poets Czech male poets Group 42 Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Masaryk University alumni 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century male writers Writers from Brno Czechoslovak emigrants to the United Kingdom Czechoslovak defectors Czechoslovak exiles