Ivan Blatný
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Ivan Blatný (December 21, 1919, Brno – August 5, 1990, Colchester, United Kingdom) was a Czech poet, member of Skupina 42 (Group 42).
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[edit] Life
He emigrated in March 1948 after the Communist seizure of power in his native country, just one of many figures in Czech Literature who chose to leave rather than go underground. However life in exile was difficult for him, as it was for other émigré Czech writers such as Ivan Diviš, and during his subsequent life in the United Kingdom, he spent periods of time in various mental hospitals. [1]
After 1984 he lived in a retirement home in Clacton-on-Sea until shortly before his death and a plaque commemorating his stay can be seen on the wall of the Edensor Care Home in Orwell Road. His ashes were taken to the central cemetery in Brno.[2]
[edit] Works
At the beginning of his career, Blatný wrote for the most part in convention rhyming and rhythmic forms, such as alexandrine quatrains, most notably the poems of Brno Elegies (in Czech, Melancholické procházky; Prague: Melantrich, 1941). The correct translation of the Czech title is 'Melancholic Walks', but Blatný's original title Brněnské elegie was forbidden by the war-time censor for its suggestion that the poet might have been melancholic about the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. The poems themselves make no reference whatsoever to contemporary events, but concentrate on Brno and its hinterland, with a beautiful hypnotic lyricism.
[edit] Publications
- Melancholické procházky (Prague: Melantrich, 1941)
- Tento Večer (1945)
- Hledání přítomného času (1947)
- Stará bydliště (1979)
- Pomocná škola Bixley (1979, 1982)
- Ivan Blatný: The Drug of Art. Selected Poems, ed. Veronika Tuckerová (New York: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2007). Translations by Anna Moschovakis, Matthew Sweney, Justin Quinn, Veronika Tuckerová, Alex Zucker.
[edit] Criticism
- Hejda, Zbyněk, 'Passer-By: The Poetry of Ivan Blatný'. Metre 12 (Autumn 2002): 171-84.
- See also, Ivan Blatný: The Drug of Art (2007) for essays by Josef Škvorecký, Veronika Tuckerová and Antonín Petrželka.
[edit] References
- ^ "Ivan Blatny: the strange story of a Czech poet in English exile", 2004
- ^ Eva Bloch u.a. (Hg.): Grundbegriffe und Autoren ostmitteleuropäischer Exilliteraturen 1945-1989. Ein Beitrag zur Systematisierung und Typologisierung. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2004, ISBN 3-515-08389-8)
