Zdeněk Jirotka (7 January 1911 – 12 April 2003) was a Czechoslovak writer of radio-broadcast plays and author of humorous novels, short stories, and feuilletons. He was born in

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

(

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

), sat for the leaving examination at the secondary industrial school 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 ...

in 1933 and then joined the Army where he served until 1940. After the Nazis had annexed Czechoslovakia, Jirotka worked for the Public Works Ministry and in 1942, when his most famous novel ''

Saturnin Saturnin of Toulouse (, , , , and , , and ) was one of the ''" Apostles to the Gauls"'' sent out (probably under the direction of Pope Fabian, 236–250) during the consulate of Decius and Gratus (250–251) to Christianise Gaul after the pers ...

'' earned him great success, he became a full-time writer. Among other newspapers and magazines that Jirotka contributed to were: the Lidové noviny (1940-1945), the Svobodné noviny (1945-1951), and the Dikobraz (1951-1953 and after 1962).

Works

*''

'', originally published in 1942 (translated into English in 1970), a humorous and satirical story of a charismatic servant, Saturnin, who carries out eccentric tasks given by his young employer. The book plays upon words and meanings of Czech proverbs. Its characters and events reflect the author's nostalgia for the epoch before World War II.

Literature

*Sehnalová, Kamila. 2013. Comparative analysis of Czech, English, and German proverb in Jirotka's ''Saturnin''. BA thesis, Charles University, Prague
Link to thesis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jirotka, Zdenek 1911 births 2003 deaths Czechoslovak novelists Czech male novelists Czechoslovak male writers People from Ostrava