Jan Balabán
Jan Balabán (born January 29, 1961 in Šumperk , † April 23, 2010 in Ostrava ) was a Czech writer , publicist and translator .
Life
Jan Balabán lived in Ostrava since childhood. He studied Bohemian and English at the Palacký University in Olomouc . After completing his studies, he worked as a technical and later as a literary translator. He has translated texts by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Terry Eagleton, among others, into Czech .
Balabán wrote reviews of the visual arts in journals and daily newspapers. Since 2007, Balabán has appeared regularly in the Czech weekly magazine Respekt.
During his studies, Balabán wrote poetry that was published in the magazine " Revolver Revue ". In collaboration with the poet Petr Hruška, Balabán was the editor of the Obrácená strana měsíce (The Dark Side of the Moon) literary magazine.
Balabán's prose is characterized by realistic features and a sense of detail. Many of his texts have autobiographical traits and emerge from the genius loci of his hometown Ostrava.
Jan Balabán died suddenly on April 23, 2010 at the age of 49. For the past three years he has been working on a new book dealing with the death of his father - it was published posthumously in July 2010 under the title “Zeptej se táty” (Ask the Father).
plant
- Středověk (Middle Ages), Sfinga, 1995 - short stories
- Boží lano (God's rope), Vetus Via, 1998 - stories
- Prázdniny (vacation), host, 1998 - short stories
- Černý beran (The Black Ram), Host, 2000 - novel
- Srdce draka (The Heart of the Dragon), Aluze, 2001 - Comic
- Kudy šel anděl (Where the angel went), Vetus Via, 2003, Host, 2005 - novel
- Možná že odcházíme (We may be leaving), Host, 2004 - short stories
- Jsme tady (We are here), Host, 2006 - "A story in ten stories"
- Zeptej se táty (Ask the Father), Host, 2010
Honourings and prices
The volume of short stories Možná že odcházíme (May we go) was voted “Book of the Year 2004” in a survey by the Czech daily Lidové noviny . In 2005, Balabán received the Magnesia-Litera Award in the “Prose” category for Možná že odcházíme and in 2011 posthumously the same award in the “Book of the Year” category for Zeptej se táty .
swell
- Slovník českých spisovatelů. Praha: Libri 2005.
Web links
- Literature by and about Jan Balabán in the catalog of the German National Library
- Literature and other media by and about Jan Balabán in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic
- German translation of the story At the Communists [1]
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Balabán, Jan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Czech writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 29, 1961 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Šumperk |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 23, 2010 |
| Place of death | Ostrava |