Jiří Mahen

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Jiří Mahen, 1915/16

Jiří Mahen (born December 12, 1882 in Čáslav , † May 22, 1939 in Brno ; real name Antonín Vančura ) was a Czech playwright, poet, journalist and librarian.

Life

Mahen was the third of thirteen children of an old Protestant family of script readers, from which his cousin, the Prague writer, playwright, film director and doctor Vladislav Vančura (1891-1942) came. Coming from a poor background, he graduated from high school in Čáslav and Jungbunzlau . In 1902 he began studying at the Philosophical Faculty of Prague University .

After graduation, Mahen worked as a secondary school teacher in Hodonín and Přerov for three years . In 1910 he moved to Brno. Before the outbreak of war, he started working as a dramaturg at the National Theater in Brno (on Veveří Street) , and later as editor of Lidové noviny (People's Newspaper) and Svoboda (Freedom). Mahen served in the ku k during the First World War. Army. From 1920 to 1924 he taught dramaturgy, direction and analysis of world drama in the newly opened drama department of the Brno Conservatory. Together with Bedřich Václavek and Josef Ludvík Fischer , he edited the left-wing Index . In 1921 he was hired as a librarian. He carried out this activity until he was old, including as director of the Brno City Library (1937–1939).

Jiří Mahen and his wife Karla became a recognized organizer of Brno cultural events. He sought contact with the young generation of artists and gave them ideal support. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the German armies, the sensitive and sensitive artist chose suicide.

Works

Bust of Jiří Mahen, Brno

As a high school student, he wrote poetry, drew, played music and sang. With the group of young writers ( Josef Mach , František Gellner ) he published his first contributions in the Letáky magazine . He had a close friendship with the writer Rudolf Těsnohlídek , who also came from Čáslav. During his studies Mahen worked in the artist group Nový kult (New Cult) around Stanislav Kostka Neumann and in the Olšany literary circle . This was followed by participation in the magazine Práce (work) published by Fráňa Šrámek , as well as Vratislav Hugo Brunner's Obzory (Horizons) and with the magazine Index published by Václavek . He also published in socialist but also anarchist writings.

Mahen's lyrical work is mostly closely linked to his youth and reflects the intimate feelings of the author and his companions. The exception in his early works is the cycle of love poems Balady (ballads), which is influenced by old French Villon ballads.

In his diverse prose works, Mahen focuses on lyricism . He describes the eventful fates of people from different walks of life, in The Friends of Freedom in 1909 he makes a generational confession. In the military novel The Best Adventure , 1929, he describes the life of an aging high school professor and embodies the confrontation of three generations in search of the meaning of life and the way out of loneliness.

poetry

  • Plamínky (Flame)
  • Duha (rainbow)
  • Tiché srdce (silent heart)
  • Scirocco
  • Rozloučení s jihem (Farewell to the South)
  • Požár Tater (Fire in Tatras)
  • Díže ( baking trough )
  • Měsíc (The Moon)
    • German by Eduard Schreiber (Radonitzer): The moon , with drawings by Valeria Gordeew. Guggolz Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-945370-09-4 .

prose

  • Kamarádi svobody (Friends of Freedom)
  • Podívíni
  • Nejlepší dobrodružství (The best adventure)
  • Díže (the baking trough)

Children's books

  • Co mi liška vyprávěla (What the fox told me)
  • Dvanáct pohádek (Twelve Fairy Tales)

Literatura on the topic of theater

  • Před oponou (Before the Curtain), 1920
  • Režisérův zápisník (Director's Notebook), 1923

Non-fiction on librarianship

  • Knížka o čtení Praktickém (The Book of Practical Reading), 1924

Non-fiction on fishing and nature

  • Rybářská knížka, (The Fisherman's Book), 1921

Travel reports

  • Hercegovina (1924)
  • Nápady a výpady, (Incursions and Failures), 1921–22

Plays

Dramas

  • Juanův konec (Juan's End), 1905
  • Klíč (The Key), 1907
  • Janošík (The Robber), 1910
  • Mrtvé moře (The Dead Sea), 1918
  • Nebe, peklo, ráj (heaven, hell, paradise), 1919
  • Generace (The Generation), 1921
  • Dezertér (The Deserter), 1923
  • Rodina (The Family), 1933
  • Mezi dvěma bouřkami (Between Two Storms), 1938
  • Nasreddin čili Nedokonalá pomsta (Nasreddin or the imperfect vengeance, 1930)

Lyrical comedies

  • Ulička odvahy (Dowsing), 1917
  • Chroust (the cockchafer)

libretto

  • Husa na provázku (Goose on a Leash), 1925

literature

  • Štěpán Vlašín: Jiří Mahen (study s ukázkami z dila) . Melantrich, Prague 1972 ( Odkazy pokrokových osobnost i naši minulosti 32, ZDB -ID 1147274-1 )

See also

Web links

Commons : Jiří Mahen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Mahen, Jiří
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Antonín Vančura; Antonin Vancura
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech playwright, poet, journalist and librarian
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Čáslav
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 1939
Place of death Brno