Josef Jedlička (16 March 1927 – 5 December 1990) 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 ...

writer. Jedlička studied

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 ...

and

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

Prague 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 oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

, but after 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 ...

revolution in 1948 he was kicked out of university for being an anticommunist. He then worked in various professions - as laborer, teacher, TV assistant, and tutor among them. After 1953 he moved to

Litvínov Litvínov (; ) is a town in Most District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants. It is known as an industrial centre. Administrative division Litvínov consists of 12 municipal parts (in brackets po ...

, an industrial town in northern

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. Being an anticommunist, he was prohibited from publishing anything, but he wrote novels and short stories secretly and read them in circle of his close friends, among them

Jan Zábrana Jan Zábrana (4 July 1931 in Herálec – 3 September 1984 in Prague) was a Czech writer and translator. His parents were teachers and politicians persecuted by the communist regime after the communist revolution of 1948: his mother, a member of ...

Bohumil Hrabal Bohumil Hrabal (; 28 March 1914 – 3 February 1997) was a Czech Republic, Czech writer, often named among the best Czech writers of the 20th century. Early life Hrabal was born in Židenice (suburb of Brno) on 28 March 1914, in what was then ...

and other prohibited writers of the time. In 1966, after 18 years of prohibition, Jedlička was allowed to publish an experimental novel ''Kde život náš je v půli se svou poutí'' (''Midway Upon the Journey of Our Life''), written in the early 1950s; parts of this book were censored in this edition by the communist censors, the complete version would be published in 1994 after the fall of communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless the book, with parts censored, caused scandal and was said to be antisocialist and once again Jedlička was prohibited from publishing. Only in 1968, was Jedlička allowed to publish few essays about

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...

and Chaadaev in literature magazines. After the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, Jedlička was exiled 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 ...

. He eventually 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 ...

, where he worked as editor and commentator 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 ...

during the 1970s and 1980s. He died in Augsburg, Germany, in 1990, where he is buried.

Work

*Kde život náš je v půli se svou poutí (''Midway Upon the Journey of Our Life'') written c. 1953, published (censored) Prague 1966, complete edition Prague 1994), English edition Nakladatelstvi Karolinum, 2016 *Krev není voda (''Blood Is No Water''), novel (Prague 1991, German translation DVB 2004) *České typy (''Bohemian Types''), essays about Bohemians and their culture, (Prague 1992) *Rozptýleno v prostoru a čase (''Splittered Through Space and Time''), (Brno 2000), essays on literature, mainly written for Radio Free Europe, Munich

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jedlicka, Josef 1927 births 1990 deaths Czech male writers Charles University alumni