Michal Ajvaz
Michal Ajvaz (born October 30, 1949 in Prague ) is a Czech prose writer, poet, essayist and translator.
Life
From 1967 to 1974 he studied at the philosophy faculty of the Prague University of Bohemian Studies and Aesthetics , worked as a caretaker, guard and worker in the waterworks until 1994, then from 1996 to 1999 as editor of the Literární noviny (literary newspaper ). In 1994 he started his own business as a writer, journalist and publicist. Since 2003 he has been employed at the Center for Theoretical Studies at the Academy of Sciences and Charles University. He has published his poems, short stories, novels, essays and theoretical studies since 1989.
person
The philosophically and aesthetically creative writer builds individual passages of narrative on top of each other in his texts. Ajvaz's philosophical excursions, linguistic and literary studies, his mysterious wanderings - all of this is in principle geared towards one goal: undermining absolute trust in the human ability to recognize the world and the ideas of our surroundings and ourselves.
Works
His debut work Vražda v hotelu Intercontinental ("Murder in the Hotel Intercontinental", 1989) marks the endeavor to make a holistic, creative philosophical and artistic statement. The setting for his early texts is Prague, permeated with magical visions, grotesque and supernatural scenarios. With "Zlatý věk" (The Golden Age) Ajvaz leaves his native Prague - the novel is set on a fictional island in the middle of the ocean. The locations of individual episodes of his later novels are spread all over the world.
In 2005 he received the Jaroslav Seifert Prize for "Prázdné ulice" (Empty Streets) . In 2012, "Lucemburská zahrada" ( Jardin du Luxembourg ) was awarded the Magnesia Litera Prize (Book of the Year).
Ajvaz's books have been a.o. a. Translated into English, French, Italian, Russian, Polish and Turkish.
bibliography
- Vražda v hotelu Intercontinental (1989)
- Návrat starého varana (1991)
- Druhé město (1993)
- Znak a bytí. Úvahy nad Derridovou grammatologií (1994)
- Tiché labyrinty (1997)
- Tyrkysový orel (1997)
- Tajemství knihy (1997)
- Zlatý věk (2001)
- Sny grammar, záře písmen. Setkání s Jorgem Luisem Borgesem (2003)
- Světelný prales. Úvahy o vidění (2003)
- Prázdné ulice (2004)
- Druhé město (2nd edition, 2005)
- Znak, sebevědomí a čas. Dvě studie o Derridově filosofii (2005)
- Padesát pět měst. Catalog sídel, o kterých vyprávěl Marco Polo Kublaj Chánovi, sepsaný k poctě Calvinovi (2006)
- Příběh znaků a prázdna (2006)
- Cesta na jih (2008)
- Lucemburská zahrada (2011)
- Cesta k pramenům smyslu: Genetická fenomenologie Edmunda Husserla (2012)
- Kosmos jako sebeutváření (2017)
- Návrat starého varana
- The return of the old monitor lizard. Translated from the Czech by Veronika Siska, Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 2018, ISBN 978-3-99029-330-0 .
Translations
- Ernst Jünger , Na mramorových útesech , 1995
See also
Web links
- Literature by and about Michal Ajvaz in the catalog of the German National Library
- Michal Ajvaz in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ajvaz, Michal |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Czech prose writer, poet, essayist and translator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 30, 1949 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Prague |