Karel Jaromír Erben (; 7 November 1811 – 21 November 1870) 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 ...

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

and poet of the mid-19th century, best known for his collection '' Kytice'', which contains poems based on traditional and

folkloric Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, myths, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also includes material ...

themes. He also wrote ''Písně národní v Čechách'' ("Folk Songs of Bohemia") which contains 500 songs and ''Prostonárodní české písně a říkadla'' ("Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes"), a five-part book that brings together most of Czech folklore. Venceslav cerny erben baje a povesti slovanske

Venceslav cerny erben baje a povesti slovanske

Biography

He was born on 7 November 1811 in Miletín near

Jičín Jičín (; or ''Gitschin'') is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservatio ...

. He went to college in

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; ) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech R ...

. Then, in 1831, he went to Prague where he studied philosophy and later law. He started working in the

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

with

František Palacký František Palacký (; 14 June 1798 – 26 May 1876) was a Czech historian and politician. He was the most influential person of the Czech National Revival, called "Father of the Nation". Life František Palacký was born on 14 June 1798, at ...

in 1843. He became editor of a Prague's newspaper in 1848. Two years later, in 1850, he became archives' secretary of the National Museum. He died on 21 November 1870 of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. He was member of the

Czech National Revival The Czech National Revival was a cultural movement which took place in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this movement was to revive the Czech Czech language, language, culture and national identity. The most pro ...

, and politically he was also a sympathizer of

Illyrian movement The Illyrian movement (; ) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of the 19th century, around the years of 1835 t ...

and Russian Slavophilia for entrenched populations of Slavs in other parts of the world. As practitioner of his ideals, he published ''Sto prostonárodních pohádek a pověstí slovanských v nářečích původních'' ("One Hundred Slavic Folk Tales and Legends in Original Dialects"), also known by its

subtitle Subtitles are texts representing the contents of the audio in a film, television show, opera or other audiovisual media. Subtitles might provide a transcription or translation of spoken dialogue. Although naming conventions can vary, caption ...

''Čitanka slovanská'' ("Slavic Reader"), that was influenced by the Grimms' collection of fairy tales. It included such pieces as tale No. 2, ''Dlouhý, Široký a Bystrozraký'' (" Long, Broad and Sharpsight", translated into English by Albert Henry Wratislaw). The entire volume was translated by W. W. Strickland, and eventually published as ''Panslavonic Folk-lore'' in 1930. He is also considered an important poet of the Czech literary

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

in the mid-19th century, with his collection of a dozen literary ballads entitled '' Kytice z pověstí národních'' ("A Bouquet of Folk Legends", 1853).

Selected works

* ''Písně národní v Čechách'' (Folk Songs of Bohemia) (1842–1845); contains 500 songs * '' Kytice z pověstí národních'' (A Bouquet of Folk Legends) (1853, expanded edition 1861)
English edition
2012) * ''Sto prostonárodních pohádek a pověstí slovanských v nářečích původních: čitanka slovanská s vysvětlením slov'' (One Hundred Slavic Folk Tales and Legends in Original Dialects: a Slavic Reader with Vocabulary, 1865) * ''Vybrané báje a pověsti národní jiných větví slovanských'' (Selection of Folk Tales and Legends from Other Slavic Branches) (1869) * ''Prostonárodní české písně a říkadla'' (Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes) (1864); 5-part collection of Czech folklore * ''České pohádky'' (Czech Fairy Tales)

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * *

External links

* * * *
About English translation on Radio Prague
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erben, Karel Jaromir 1811 births 1870 deaths Scholars from the Austrian Empire Folklorists from Austria-Hungary People from Miletín 19th-century Czech poets Czech folk-song collectors Czech male poets 19th-century Czech male writers Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Burials at Olšany Cemetery 19th-century musicologists