Jan Skácel (7 February 1922 – 7 November 1989) 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 ...

of Moravian origin, widely acclaimed as one of the best poets who had been writing in

Biography

Skácel was born in Vnorovy in 1922. He often juxtaposed the fear stoked by 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 ...

regime in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and the highly free syntax of Czech language. His poems are closely connected to the traditions and the nature of the region he lived in, Southern Moravia. His poems were mentioned in the book

Ignorance Ignorance is a lack of knowledge or understanding. Deliberate ignorance is a culturally-induced phenomenon, the study of which is called agnotology. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, or ...

written by

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera ( ; ; 1 April 1929 – 11 July 2023) was a Czech and French novelist. Kundera went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. His Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, but he was granted Czech citizenship ...

. Skácel was the editor of ''Host do domu'', an important literary magazine between 1963 and 1969. He was awarded the German international literary Petrarca-Preis and Slovenian international Vilenica prize in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. When in 1996 she won the Georg-Büchner Prize for literature, the German poet Sarah Kirsch named Skácel as a major influence. Skácel died in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

in 1989.

Works

Poetry

*''Kolik příležitostí má růže'' Prague, 1957 (How many chances the rose has) *''Co zbylo z anděla'' Prague, 1960 (What remained of angel) *''Hodina mezi psem a vlkem'' Prague, 1962 (An hour between dog and wolf) *''Smuténka'' Prague, 1965 (title is neologism with root "smutný" = sad, it associates botanic name) *''Vítr jménem Jaromír'' Prague, 1966 (Wind called Jaromír) *''Metličky'' Prague, 1968 (Little whisks) *''Tratidla'' Brno, 1974 (neologism with root "tratit" = to lose, it associates toponyme) *''Dávné proso'' Brno, 1981 (Ancient Millet) *''Naděje s bukovými křídly'' Prague, 1983 (Hope with Wings of Beech) *''Odlévání do ztraceného vosku'' Brno, 1984 (

Lost-wax casting Lost-wax castingalso called investment casting, precision casting, or ''cire perdue'' (; borrowed from French)is the process by which a duplicate sculpture (often a metal, such as silver, gold, brass, or bronze) is cast from an original scul ...

) *''Kdo pije potmě víno'' Brno, 1988 (Drinker of wine in the dark) *''A znovu láska'' Brno, 1991 (Love again)

Prose

*''Jedenáctý bílý kůň'' Brno 1966 (The eleventh white horse) *''Třináctý černý kůň'' Brno 1993 (The thirteenth black horse)

References

* 1922 births 1989 deaths People from Hodonín District Czech male poets 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century Czech male writers Masaryk University alumni Czechoslovak writers {{CzechRepublic-writer-stub