Jan Čep (31 December 1902, Myslechovice – 25 January 1974,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) 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, ...

writer and translator.

Life

Čep was born in 1902 in the village of Myslechovice (now a part of

Litovel Litovel (; german: Littau) is a town in Olomouc District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,600 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative par ...

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

, to a family of peasants. After completing his studies at the Gymnasium in Litovel, from 1922 to 1926 he studied Czech, English and French linguistics at

Prague University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , underg ...

. In 1926, he joined Josef Florian's Christian community in Stará Říše and worked in its publishing house as a translator. After later having been seduced by Florian's elder sister, he returned to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

and worked as a translator for the publishing houses Melantrich and Symposion. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, he returned to his native village and led a solitary life out of politics and public life. He only corresponded with his best friend, the poet Jan Zahradníček (their correspondence was published in the 1990s as a book) and made visits to a Dominican cloister in Olomouc to see his other friend, a monk, theologian and literature critic named Silvestr Maria Braito. After the end of

World War II 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 opposing ...

he returned to Prague and worked as an editor in the Vyšehrad publishing house. After the communist takeover in 1948, Jan fled into exile and lived in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. His friends that stayed, such as Jan Zahradníček, were subjected to cruel persecution. The poet Zahradníček was sentenced to 13 years of prison for his "anti-socialistic thinking" and died a few weeks after being released from prison in the 1960s. In exile, Jan Čep lived in

(1948-1951) and in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

(1951-1954) where he became a commentator in the Czech section of

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

. In 1954, he returned to Paris, married, and became an essayist and free journalist. He died in exile in 1974 in Paris.

Books

*Dvojí domov (1926, Double Being), short stories *Zeměžluč (1931, Centaury), short stories *Letnice (1932, Pentecost), short stories *Děravý plášť (1934, Perforated Cloak), short stories *Hranice stínu (1935, Border of Shade), novel *Modrá a zlatá (1938, Blue and Gold), short stories *Polní tráva (1946, Field Grass) *Rozptýlené paprsky (1946), essays *Cikáni (1953, Gypsies), novel published in Munich exile *O lidský svět (1953, Human World), essays published in Rome *Samomluvy (1959) essays, published in Lund *Sestra úzkost (1975, My Sister Fear), memoirs/essay, published in Rome *Etudy pro paní J. (1986, Etudes for Mrs. J.), novel published posthumously in Munich

External links

Biography
(cz) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cep, Jan 1902 births 1974 deaths People from Litovel Czech male writers Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people Czechoslovak defectors Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Czechoslovak emigrants to France

Life

Books

See also

External links