Jakub Grajchman (25 July 1822 – 9 June 1897) was a Slovak poet, educator, dramatist, and romanticist. He was also a Slovak nationalist.

Biography

Grajchman was born Jakub Graichman on 25 July 1822 in

Hybe Hybe ( Hungarian: ''Hibbe'') is a village and municipality in the Liptovský Mikuláš District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia. Names and etymology The name is of Slavic ( Slovak) origin with uncertain etymology. Possibly, it derive ...

, Austrian Empire (now Slovakia). He would begin spelling Graichman ''Grajchman'', the Slovak equivalent of his German surname, in later life in support of Ľudovít Štúr's standardization of the Slovak language. As a child, he attended school in Kežmarok, Gemer, and Levoča and had

Peter Michal Bohúň Peter Michal Bohúň (29 September 1822, Veličná - 20 May 1879, Bielsko-Biała) was a Slovak painter, primarily of portraits, although he also did landscapes and altarpieces. Biography His father was a Lutheran minister. He went to the public s ...

as a classmate. He then studied Evangelical theory 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 ...

, Halle, and Berlin and attended

University of Prešov The University of Prešov ( sk, Prešovská univerzita v Prešove) is the only public university in the Prešov self-governing region of Slovakia. It focuses on the areas of social, natural, and theological sciences, sport, arts, management, and ...

, where he studied law. He taught in

and

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 ...

(1848) before moving to Liptovský Mikuláš, where he was a notary and a court assistant until 1854. He was part of the revolutions across the Austrian Empire in 1848-1849. He then worked as a court assistant in

Dolný Kubín Dolný Kubín (; also known by other names) is a town in northern Slovakia in the Žilina Region. It is the historical capital and the largest settlement of the Orava region. Names The name is derived from the archaic Slovak word meaning a "gla ...

1854-1859 before returning to Liptovský Mikuláš, where he became a courtroom advisor. In 1867, he returned to his birthplace of

to live out his last 11 years. He also lived in Liptovský Hrádok for a period. He wrote many dramas, poems, articles, and plays in German and Slovak, sometimes using the "

Štúrovo Štúrovo (before 1948: ''Parkan''; hu, Párkány, german: Gockern, tr, Ciğerdelen) is a town in Slovakia, situated on the River Danube. Its population in 2018 was 10,279. The town is situated opposite the Hungarian city of Esztergom. The Már ...

spirit of a national folk song." He contributed to such journals and almanacs as ''Orol tatranský'' ('' Orol tatránski''), ''Nitra'' ('' Nitra''), ''Lipa'' (''

Lipa Lipa or LIPA (Cyrillic: Липа) may refer to: Acronym *Liquid Isopropyl alcohol *League for Independent Political Action, a former American progressive political organization *Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, a performing arts school in ...

''), ''Sokol'', ''Minerva'', ''Slovanský almanach'', and ''Živena '' Grajchman was not a popular writer during his lifetime. His works include ''Melancholický gavalier'' (play), ''Básnické spisy Jakuba Grajchmana'' (collection of poems), ''Ako to bolo?'' (love drama), ''Kto zaplatí nohavice?'' (comedy), ''Zakliaty tulipán'' (ballad), and ''Divná dáma'' (poem). Though Grajchman wrote primarily for amateur theatres, ''Kto zaplatí nohavice?'' was made into a radio program and a

TV performance Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

was broadcast in 1987. Grajchman died on 9 June 1897 in

, where he is buried.

References

1822 births 1897 deaths People from Liptovský Mikuláš District Slovak dramatists and playwrights 19th-century dramatists and playwrights Dramatists and playwrights from Austria-Hungary Poets from Austria-Hungary {{Authority control