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

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 ...

) was a Czech poet. His work was influenced by surrealism and

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 ...

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, but ultimately returned to Prague. As a Jew his life under

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

rule was extremely restricted, but for a time he continued to write under pseudonyms. 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 ''Arijský boj'' ("Aryan Struggle") was a pro-Nazi Czech-language weekly tabloid newspaper published between May 1940 and May 1945 in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Inspired by the Nazi newspaper '' Der Stürmer'', the newspaper mad ...

''. Although he had shown interest in

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

in youth religious themes concerning the Book of Job and God 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, and ultimately opinion of him rebounded. This re-appraisal led

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

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. Ma ...

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 Lyn Coffin (born November 12, 1943) is an American poet, writer, translator, and editor. Biography She has been an Associate Editor of the ''Michigan Quarterly Review'' and previously taught English at the University of Washington, Renton High S ...

, 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 The Jiří Orten Award is a Czech literary prize given to the author of a work of prose or poetry who is no older than 30 at the time of the work's completion. The award is named after Czech poet Jiří Orten. The winner is awarded a prize of 50,00 ...

, 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

)

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 poets Czech male poets Jewish poets Jewish Czech writers Czech Jews 1941 road incidents Road incident deaths in Czechoslovakia 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century male writers Czechoslovak poets