Ivan Diviš (18 September 1924, 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 ...

– 7 April 1999, in Prague) was a significant Czech

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 ...

and

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

of the second half of the 20th century.

Biography

He was born in

into the family of a bank officer. While at high school in Prague during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

and imprisoned in Pečkárna and

Pankrác Pankrác is a neighborhood of Prague, Czech Republic. It is located south of the city centre on the hills of the eastern bank of the Vltava River and is part of the Prague 4 municipal district, situated in the district of Nusle. Bordering distri ...

. From 1942, he worked in a bookstore, and at the end of the war he was employed at publisher V. Petr. After passing his ''

maturita or its translated terms (''mature'', ''matur'', , , , , ', ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

'' he studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

(1945–1949). In the early 1950s, he worked as a corrector at the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Rudé právo ''Rudé právo'' ( Czech for ''Red Justice'' or ''The Red Right'') was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. History and profile ''Rudé právo'' was founded in 1920 when the party was splitting from the social demo ...

newspaper. After 1953, he worked a

lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the w ...

Liberec Liberec (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 108,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse River, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preserved and is pr ...

and Prague-Kbely. In the 1960s, he was an editor at Mladá fronta publishing house. In 1964, he converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In the aftermath of 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 ...

, he emigrated to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in 1969 and worked as a librarian for

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

. He lived in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

until the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

of 1989 when he returned to Prague.

Works

* ''Balada z regálu'' (1946, with

Kamil Bednář Kamil Bednář, also known by his pen name Prokop Kouba (4 July 1912 – 23 May 1972), was a Czech poet, translator, prose writer, dramatist and publishing house editor. Life Bednář was born in Prague. After 1931, he studied law, and then six ...

, illustrated by Václav Bláha) * ''První hudba bratřím'' (1947) * ''Uzlové písmo'' (1960) * ''Rozpleť si vlasy'' (1961) * ''Deník molekuly'' (1962) * ''Eliášův oheň'' (1962) * ''Morality'' (1963) * ''Chrlení krve'' (1964) * ''Umbriana'' (1965) * ''V jazyku Dolor'' (1966) * ''Povíme si to!'' (1967) * ''Sursum'' (1967, 2nd edition 1987 in Munich) * ''Thanathea'' (1968) * ''Noé vypouští krkavce'' (1975 in Toronto, revised 1995) * ''Přece jen'' (1977 in Munich) * ''Křížatky'' (1978 in Munich) * ''Průvan'' (1978

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

) * ''Beránek na sněhu'' (1980, 1994 in Munich) * ''Odchod z Čech'' (1981, 1990 in Munich) * ''Žalmy'' (186, 1991 revised in London) * ''Obrať koně'' (1987, 1992 in Tessing) * ''Moje oči musely vidět'' (1991)

References

External links

Magazine Týden: article ''14. 5. 1960 – Ivan Diviš začíná psát Teorii spolehlivosti'' of May 9, 2005
(in Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Divis, Ivan 1924 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century Roman Catholics Catholic poets Charles University alumni Converts to Roman Catholicism Czech male poets Czech Roman Catholic writers Czechoslovak defectors Print editors Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Writers from Prague

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links