Josef Holeček (27 February 1853, Stožice – 6 March 1929,

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 ...

) 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 of the

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

and

ruralism Agrarianism is a political and social philosophy that has promoted subsistence agriculture, smallholdings, and egalitarianism, with agrarian political parties normally supporting the rights and sustainability of small farmers and poor peasants ...

movements who wrote about his native

South Bohemian Region The South Bohemian Region ( cs, Jihočeský kraj; , ) is an administrative unit (''kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western part ...

. He was journalist and translator as well. He studied in

Písek Písek (; german: Pisek) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 30,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Písek is colloquially called "''South ...

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

and

Tábor Tábor (; german: Tabor) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. Administrative parts The followi ...

(the oldest park there is named after him ''Holečkovy sady'') and since 1926 there is his monument there. Having befriended several

South Slavs South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hu ...

in Tábor, he became interested in their

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

and also in literature, art and history in general. After his studies, he worked in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

and in 1875 he became a correspondent of the Prague newspaper ''Národní listy'' in

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

. He was a Slavic patriot; in 1887 he visited Russia and in 1889 he travelled through

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

and visited

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Works

His work focuses on the life in the countryside and emphasizes the power of love which can salve the bad things.

Fiction and non-fiction

* ''Černá Hora'' (Montenegro) * ''Černá Hora v míru'' (Montenegro during peace times) * ''Nekrvavé obrázky z vojny'' (Bloodless pictures from the war) –

feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of french: feuillet, the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criti ...

s which portray the nonsensical Austrian militarism; their style anticipates Švejk. * ''Za svobodu'' (For Freedom) * ''Junácké kresby černohorské'' (Sketches of Montenegro heroism) * ''Zájezd na Rus'' (Journey to Russia) * ''Ruskočeské kapitoly'' (Russo-Czech Chapters) * ''Podejme ruku Slovákům!'' (Let's offer hand to Slovaks!) – an attempt to solve problems between Czech and Slovak intellectuals which found many followers * ''Naši'' (Our people) – a ten-part chronicle in twelve books (1897–1930) which describes the life in the village of Stožice in the 19th century; unfinished. * ''Jak u nás lidé žijou a umírají'' (How our people live and die) – a peasant portrayed as a symbol of the national virtues; unlike in other writers' works, not only because he speaks Czech, but also because Holeček well understood the importance of the village life. * ''Frantík a Bartoň'' * ''Tragédie Julia Grégra'' (Tragedy of Julius Grégr) * ''Pero'' (Pen) – memoirs

Translations

* ''Písně hercegovské'' (Songs of Herzegovina) * ''Srbská národní epika'' (Serbian National Epic Poetry) * ''

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...

'' – his translation (which keeps the original rhythm) is still the only Czech one. It was the first full translation of this epic poem into a

Slavic language The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto ...

. Holeček was inspired to translate the work as he was generally interested in the art of the "small nations" (Josef Holeček, 1915Kalevala, afterword). With the help of Leopold Geitler and Bohuslav Čermák (

amanuensis An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenby ...

in the Prague library) he learned

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

from Finnish-German vocabularies found in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

secondhand bookstores and from the 1818 German grammar book ''Finnische Sprachlehre für Finnen und Nicht-Finnen...'' by Johan Stråhlman which they found in Prague, as there was no bookshop connection between Prague and

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

then. The translation was published at Holeček's own expense (and a grant of 500

florins The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...

from the

Royal Czech Society of Sciences Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences ( la, Regia Societas Scientiarum Bohemica; german: Königliche böhmische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften; cs, Královská česká společnost nauk) was established in 1784 – originally without the adjective " ...

) between 1894 and 1895.

References

External links

Info about Josef Holeček
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holecek, Josef 1853 births 1929 deaths People from Strakonice District Journalists from Austria-Hungary Czechoslovak writers Czech journalists Czech translators

Works

Fiction and non-fiction

Translations

References

Further reading

External links