Václav Řezáč (born Václav Voňavka; 5 May 1901 – 22 June 1956) was a Czech writer. Initially an author of psychological prose, he later became one of the main representatives of socialist realism in

Czech literature Czech literature can refer to literature written in Czech language, Czech, in the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia, earlier the Lands of the Bohemian Crown), or by Czech people. Most literature in the Czech Republic is now written in C ...

Biography

He was born in a poor district of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, Na Františku, and was orphaned by his father at an early age. After completing his education, he worked as a civil servant in the years throughout the 1920s and 30s also earning money by writing literary and theatre criticism for the magazines ''Český svět'' and ''Eva''. Řezáč began his literary career in the late 1920s, making his debut with the story ''Knír'' ("Moustache" 1928), published in the well-known illustrated magazine ''

Světozor __NOTOC__ ''Světozor'' ("Seeing the World") was a Czech language, Czech-language illustrated magazine published in 19th and 20th century. History and profile ''Světozor'' was created by Pavel Josef Šafařík in 1834. Šafařík was inspired b ...

''. By the 1930s he had become a successful and critically acclaimed novelist, publishing his works in the popular ''Lidové noviny'' newspaper. From 1940 to 1945 he was an editor of the ''Lidové noviny''. After the war he edited the communist trade union daily ''Práce'', was active in the writers' union and in Czechoslovak cinema. One of the main representatives of domestic socialist realism, together with Jan Drda he set the tone for the new trend in Czech literature. From 1949 he held the life-long position of director of the state literary publishing house "Československý spisovatel", which published a 12-volume edition of his works. He was also a member of the directing board of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers and worked at the Svoboda publishing house.

Selected works

* ''Fidlovačka'' (1933) – poems for children * ''Poplach v Kovářské uličce'' (1934) – children's story * ''Kluci, hurá za ním'' (1934) – children's story * ''Větrná setba'' (1935) – novel * ''Slepá ulička'' (1938) – novel * ''Černé světlo'' (1940) – novel * ''Svědek'' (1943) – novel * ''Stopy v písku'' (1944) – collection of journalism * ''Rozhraní'' (1945) – novel * ''Nástup'' (1951) – novel * ''Bitva'' (1954) – novel * ''Tváří v tvář'' (1956) – short story collection

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rezac, Vaclav 1901 births 1956 deaths Writers from Prague 20th-century Czech male writers 20th-century Czech novelists Czech children's writers 20th-century Czech journalists Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Czech publishers (people) 20th-century Czech screenwriters 20th-century Czech poets