Václav Renč (28 November 1911, Vodochody – 30 April 1973,

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 ...

) was a Czech poet, dramatist and translator. Like other Catholic ruralistic writers, his themes included God, traditions and the countryside.

Life

Renč was born in Vodochody. He graduated from the College of Philosophy of

Charles University in Prague 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 ...

in 1936. He edited the journal ''Rozhledy po literatuře'' (i.e. "Views over literature") together with

František Halas František Halas (3 October 1901 – 27 October 1949) was a Czechs, Czech poet, translator and politician. He was one of the most significant Czech lyric poets of the 20th century. His poor background influenced his work as well as his communist v ...

(between 1933 and 1936). Then he worked as an editor at several journals (''Akord'', ''Obnova'' and ''Řád''), later as a publishing editor. He was also a dramaturgist in

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

theatre (1945–1948) and in Zemské divadlo theatre in

in 1947. After the 1948 communist coup 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 ...

he and other catholic writers were hated by the regime. In 1951, Renč was arrested and in 1952 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison without any evidence. He was released in 1962, rehabilitated in 1968.Jiří Holý, ''Writers Under Siege: Czech Literature Since 1945'', p. 63, Sussex Academic Press, 2011, He became dramaturg

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

dramaturgist in Olomouc in 1969. He died, aged 61, in

Works

* ''Jitření'', 1933 * ''Studánky'', 1935 * ''Sedmihradská zem'', 1937 * ''Vinný lis'', 1938 * ''Trojzpěvy'', 1940 * ''Marnotratný syn'', 1942 * ''Císařův mim'', 1944 * ''Barbora Celská'', 1948 drama * ''Tom Sawyer od řeky Mississippi'', 1964, stage play for children based on novel by

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

. * ''Královské vraždění: Polonius, tragická komedie o pěti dějstvích'', 1967 * ''Hoře z návratu: Dramatická báseň o dvou dílech'', 1969 * ''Popelka Nazaretská'', 1969 * ''Setkání s Minotaurem'', 1969 lyrical poems written in years 1963 – 1967 * ''Skřivaní věž'', 1970 poems written in prison * ''Pražská legenda'', 1974 * ''Sluncem oděná'', 1979 * ''České žalmy'', 1989 * ''Perníková chaloupka'', 1990 * ''Kůzlátka a hloupý vlk'', 1992 fairy tales * ''Loretánské světlo'', 1992 * ''Podoben větru'', 1994 summary of poetry * ''S anděly si nelze připíjet'', 2000 * ''Vrstvení achátu'', 2000 Aside his own work he has also translated from

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, English, French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renc, Vaclav Czech children's writers Czech male poets Czech male dramatists and playwrights 1911 births 1973 deaths People from Litoměřice District Czechoslovak Socialist Republic rehabilitations Czechoslovak prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Czechoslovakia Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk 20th-century Czech translators 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century Czech dramatists and playwrights

Life

Works

See also

References