Josef Václav Sládek (27 October 1845 in Zbiroh – 28 June 1912 in Zbiroh) 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, ...

poet, journalist and translator, member of the literary group , pioneer of children's poetry in Czech lands. In 1865, he graduated at the Academic Gymnasium in Prague. In 1867, he became suspected by the Austro-Hungarian police of supporting the Czech opposition movement against the monarchy. In 1868 he moved to United States, where he spent two years working as a laborer. He was interested in the fate of

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

and blacks. He described his American experience in a collection of poems (titled ''Poems'') and in one prose (''American images''). His stay in the USA influenced him significantly. Throughout the rest of his life he focused on translating Anglo-American literature. He translated 33 plays by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and other works by Burns, Longfellow, Hart, Byron, Coleridge etc. Less known fact is that Sládek translated the Czech anthem Kde domov můj into English.https://www.pressreader.com/czech-republic/lidove-noviny/20170701/281973197671948

References

External links

Josef Václav Sládek in ''The Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (1979)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sladek, Josef Vaclav Czech male poets Czech journalists Czech translators 1845 births 1912 deaths People from Rokycany District 19th-century translators