Jan Zahradníček (17 January 1905, Mastník,

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

− 10 October 1960, Vlčatín) was a Moravian (Czech) poet, journalist and translator. He was one of the most important Czech Catholic poets of the 20th century. Because of his faith and his anti-totalitarian work, he was imprisoned as an enemy of the Communist Party after the Communist coup of 1948.

Biography

From 1919 to 1926 he studied at Třebíč gymnasium. He then studied literature and

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

at the

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 ...

in Prague. Among his teachers were the literary critic František Xaver Šalda and the writer Václav Tille. In 1936 he moved to Uhřínov to translate and write poetry. From 1940 until 1948 he was the editor of ''Akord'' Revue 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 1945, he became the editor of Brněnské tiskárny (a publishing house). In June 1951 he was arrested by the Communist secret police ( StB) and sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment. In 1960 he was granted amnesty due to his worsening health. He died in the same year, in an ambulance while passing through the municipality of Vlčatín. He was buried in Uhřínov. He had four children, two daughters died from

mushroom poisoning Mushroom poisoning is poisoning resulting from the ingestion of mushrooms that contain toxicity, toxic substances. Signs and symptoms, Symptoms can vary from slight Gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal discomfort to death in about 10 days. Mus ...

in the time of his imprisonment.

Published works

* 1930 − ''Pokušení smrti'' * 1933 − ''Jeřáby'' * 1935 − ''Žíznivé léto'' * 1937 − ''Pozdravení slunci'' * 1940 − ''Korouhve'' * 1947 − ''La Saletta'' * 1948 − ''Znamení moci'', an anti-Communist poetry collection censored by the Communist regime;Kraszewski, Charles S. "Biblical Allusion in Jan Zahradníček's Znamení Moci." Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne Des Slavistes 33, no. 3/4 (1991): 225–42. www.jstor.org/stable/40869314, p. 225 a translation of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's '' Divina comedia'' which could not be published under Zahradníček's name. Verse books from prison ''Čtyři léta'' and ''Dům strach'' were published in exile (Canada) during the 1970s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahradnicek, Jan 1905 births 1960 deaths People from Třebíč District 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century male writers Czech male poets Czech Catholic poets Catholic poets Czech Roman Catholics Czechoslovak prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Czechoslovakia Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Charles University alumni