Rudolf Těsnohlídek

Rudolf Těsnohlídek

Rudolf Těsnohlídek (born June 6, 1882 in Čáslav , † January 12, 1928 in Brno ) was a Czech publicist, prose writer, poet and translator.

Life

Těsnohlídek experienced a difficult childhood because his father was inappropriate and strict, his mother died while studying in the Septima and one of his schoolmates drowned in the Elbe before his eyes . He began his high school education in Čáslav and finished it in Königgrätz . At the age of 19 he was enrolled at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Prague in 1901 , where he studied modern philology and philosophy. In his later work, Těsnohlídek was influenced by Nordic authors such as Arne Garborg , Jacobsen and Knut Hamsun , so that he also translated them into Czech. On May 27, 1905, he married Jindra Kaja Kopecká; she died during her honeymoon in Norway on July 23, 1905 at the age of 22 of tuberculosis . On the advice of his friend Stanislav Kostka Neumann , he went to Brno to begin a journalism career as an editor for Moravský kraj. He later worked as a columnist and court cartoonist for Lidové noviny. With Eduard Valenta and Bedřich Golombek he formed a permanent union of the Brno Lidové noviny , in which he reached the peak of his genre. He also wrote some books for children and teenagers. In 1909 he married Anna Kutilová; from this marriage the son Milan emerged.

In addition to his literary work, Těsnohlídek also devoted himself to social and charitable activities. When he found an abandoned, helpless child Liduška in the Bilowitz woods a few days before Christmas 1919 on an excursion, he was inspired by the idea of ​​setting up municipal Christmas trees under which donations for poor children and families could be deposited. He brought the Nordic custom of the public Christmas tree from Copenhagen to Brno, where the first public city Christmas tree was erected in 1924. The fundraising campaign was a great success, and in 1928, with the help of the money, the foundation stone for Dětský domov Dagmar (Children's Home Dagmar) for lonely children was laid. The idea was a model for other cities and is still fostered today. In 1916 Těsnohlídek divorced his second wife Anna, his son stayed with her and was later adopted by her second husband, the doctor and sanatorium owner Jan Navrátil. Těsnohlídek's son Milan Navrátil continued to run the sanatorium. In April 1924 Těsnohlídek married Olga Vasická-Zámečníková; this was the third marriage for both partners. Těsnohlídek could not cope with the tragic experiences in his life. His work, which was initially influenced by Impressionism and Nordic literature, increasingly reflected his pessimism about life. On the morning of January 12, 1928, he shot himself. His wife Olga also committed suicide on the same day, she died of light gas poisoning . On February 11, 1928, their urns were buried together in the Brno Central Cemetery.

Works

• Nénie, 1902
• Dva mezi ostatními, 1906, prose
• Květy v jíní, 1908, prose
• Poseidon, 1916, prose
• Liška Bystrouška (Adventure of the Little Fox Smart), 1920, fairy tale
• Paví oko, 1922, poetic prose
• Kolonia Kutejsík, 1922, prose
• Čimčirínek a chlapci, 1922, children's and youth book
• Den, 1923, lyric collection
• Poťóchlencovi příběhové, article by Lidové noviny
• Vrba zelená, 1925, fantasy grotesque
• Demänová, 1926, prose
• Rozbitý stůl, published after his death in 1935

Web links

Commons : Rudolf Těsnohlídek  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Rudolf Těsnohlídek in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature and other media by and about Rudolf Těsnohlídek in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic
• Entry on encyklopedie.brna.cz