Karel Novák (8 December 1890 – 23 November 1980), known professionally as Karel Nový, was a Czech writer and journalist.

Biography

Karel Novák was born into the family of a poor baker. He published under the name Karel Nový and later adopted this name as his own. He studied at the grammar school in Benešov and his classmate in the third and fourth years was

Vladislav Vančura Vladislav Vančura (; 23 June 1891 – 1 June 1942) was a Czech writer. He was also active as a film director, playwright and screenwriter. A member of the Czech resistance during WWII, he was captured and murdered by the Nazis. Early years Va ...

with whom he became close friends. Nový did not finish high school and, after several short-term jobs, began to study journalism. As a journalist, he worked with

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

intelligentsia. 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 in 1944 by the Nazi occupiers and interned in the Klecina labor camp (Klettendorf) in Silesia near Wrocław. After the liberation, he worked gradually in several newsrooms, from 1952 to 1956 he was the editor-in-chief of the State Children's Book Publishing House. From 1956 he worked as a professional writer. In 1960 he was appointed National Artist. Karel Nový died in 1980 in Prague and was buried in the Old Town Cemetery in Benešov. The grave of the Karel Nový family in the Old Town Cemetery in Benešov.

Works

The literary work of Karel Nový covers many genres: from feuilletons and short stories to long novels, from books for children and youth to theatrical plays and film scripts. His work is often classified as critical realism, he often dealt with social issues. * ''Městečko Raňkov'' – 1927 * ''Železný kruh'' (trilogy): ** ''Samota Křešín'' – 1927 ** ''Srdce ve vichru'' – 1930 ** ''Tváří v tvář'' – 1933 * ''Peníze'' – 1931 * ''Chceme žít'' – 1933 * ''Atentát'' –''Rytíři a lapkové'' (nejprve pod názvem ''Železo železem se ostří'') 1940 * ''Balada o českém vojáku'' 1945, román. * ''Česká bouře'' – 1948 * ''Plamen a vítr: z letopisů městečka Raňkova'' – 1959 * ''Zaváté stopy'' – 1955 * ''Zahořklé úsměvy'' – 1959

Children's literature

* ''Rybaříci na modré zátoce'' – 1936 * ''Potulný lovec: román z lišákova života'' – 1941 * ''Nehasnoucí ohně: povídky ze starých dob'' – 1951 * ''Básníkova první láska'' – 1962

Awards

* Order of Labor * Klement Gottwald State Prize (1960) * Honored Artist of Czechoslovakia (1954) * National Artist of Czechoslovakia (1960)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nový, Karel 1890 births 1980 deaths People from Benešov 20th-century Czech writers Czech children's writers Czech journalists 20th-century Czech novelists Czech short story writers Socialist realism writers Merited Artists of Czechoslovakia