Jiří Orten (born Jiří Ohrenstein; 30 August 1919 in Kutná Hora – 1 September 1941 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) 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 *Czech (surnam ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. His work was influenced by

surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

Life

Orten was born in Kutná Hora as Jiří Ohrenstein. His first book of poems, ''Čítanka jaro'' (Reader of Spring), came out in 1939. He spent time in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, but ultimately returned to

. As a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

his life under

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

rule was extremely restricted, but for a time he continued to write under

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's ow ...

. At some point in 1940 his situation worsened and he was no longer able to write under pseudonyms. This situation forced him to take odd jobs and a romantic relationship failed around this time. Eight days before his death, his pseudonymous writing was denounced in the antisemitic periodical '' Arijský boj''. Although he had shown interest in

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

in youth, religious themes concerning the

Book of Job The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...

and G—D became more evident in his writing. On 30 August 1941 he was hit by an ambulance. He was taken to the General Infirmary, which refused him treatment because he was Jewish, so he was moved to another hospital. He died two days later. Although he gained a cult following for a few years after his death, the Communists later rejected him as "degenerative muck." His work gained renewed interest during the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

, and ultimately opinion of him rebounded. This re-appraisal led

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to create a

literary prize A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Man ...

named for him in 1987. In 2011, ''White Picture'', a collection of Orten's poetry in an English translation by the American poet Lyn Coffin, was published. Lyn's translations of Orten were described by Orten's brother, Ota Ornest, as "the poems Jiří would have written if he'd written in English." The book features an introduction by Ed Hirsch. Jiří Orten Award, a literary prize for young authors in the Czech Republic, is named in his honor.

Work

* ''Čítanka jaro'' (1939) * ''Cesta k mrazu'' (1940) * ''Jeremiášův pláč'' (1941) * ''Ohnice'' (1941) * ''Elegie'' (1946) * ''Deníky Jiřího Ortena'' (1958) * ''Eta, Eta, žlutí ptáci'' (1966)

English translation

* ''White Picture'' (2011; translated by Lyn Coffin)

References

Bibliography

* Jiří Orten, ''Elegie'', Vyšehrad, Prague 2013.

External links

Works by Jiří Orten as e-books available for free download from the catalogue of the Municipal Library in Prague
(in Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Orten, Jiri 1919 births 1941 deaths People from Kutná Hora Czech male poets Jewish poets Jewish Czech writers 1941 road incidents Road incident deaths in Czechoslovakia 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century Czech male writers Czechoslovak poets