Jan Balabán

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jan Balabán
Jan Balabán in 2007
Born	(1961-01-29)29 January 1961 Sumperk, Czechoslovakia
Died	23 April 2010(2010-04-23) (aged 49)
Occupation	Writer, journalist, translator
Nationality	Czech (Moravian Salisian)
Citizenship	European (EU) from 2004
Period	1980s–2010
Genres	Existentialism, art criticism, technical translation
Literary movement	Prirozeni

Jan Balabán (29 January 1961 – 23 April 2010) was a Czech writer, journalist, and translator. He was considered an existentialist whose works often dealt with the wretched and desperate aspects of the human condition.

Partial biography

Born in Sumperk, North Moravia, Czechoslovakia, Balaban moved with his family to Ostrava when he was a year old. He graduated from Palacký University, Olomouc with a degree from the Department of Philosophy. Following graduation, he visited England, Canada and the United States. In 1984 he had a two-month internship at Kings College in Scotland. His first serious publication was a book of short stories – "The Middle Ages" (1985). He then worked as a technical translator at the Vítkovice ironworks and later as a freelance translator and journalist, making regular contributions to the magazine Respekt. He also translated the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Terry Eagleton.^[1] In the 1990s, he, along with Petr Hruška, participated in publishing the magazine Landek. Speaking of his steel-town home city, he recalled William Faulkner (to whom he was compared),^[2] saying: "If you write about a place, you not only love it, but find much to hate." Also a connoisseur of the arts, Balabán's knowledge allowed him to write articles and essays for relevant art journals, exhibitions, catalogs and newspapers. A founding member of the group Prirozeni (The Natural – founded 1980), Balabán helped proliferate the underground arts community and rehabilitate the urban landscape by organizing exhibitions in attics, hallways, in subways and on slag heaps in the suburbs of Ostrava. One of Balabán's most important works, Možná že odcházíme (It May Be That We Go), is a collection of twenty stories in a hundred pages that deals with characters inspired by people from his home city and the difficult periods in their lives as they suffer disappointments and failures at work and home.^[3]

Balabán died on 23 April 2010 at the age of 49. In the week leading up to his death, he was in attendance in his hometown of Ostrava at a monthlong authors' festival held in both Ostrava and Brno.^[4] Balabán was divorced with two children. In the last three years he had been working on a new book that dealt with the death of his father.^[5]

Published works

Středověk (Mittelalter), Sfinga, 1995 – Erzählungen Středověk (Middle Ages), Sfinga, 1995 – Stories
Boží lano (Gottes Seil), Vetus Via, 1998 – Erzählungen Boží lano (God's Rope), Vetus Via, 1998 – Stories
Prázdniny (Ferien), Host, 1998 – Erzählungen Prázdniny (Holiday), host, 1998 – Narratives
Černý beran (Der schwarze Widder), Host, 2000 – Roman Černý beran (The Black Ram), host, 2000 – Roman
Srdce draka (Das Herz des Drachen), Aluze, 2001 – Comic Srdce Draka (The Heart of the Dragon), Aluze, 2001 – Comic
Kudy šel anděl (Wohin der Engel ging), Vetus Via, 2003, Host, 2005 – Roman Kudy Sel anděl (Where the Angel Went), Vetus Via, 2003, Host, 2005 – Roman
Možná že odcházíme (Kann sein, dass wir gehen), Host, 2004 – Erzählungen Možná že odcházíme (It May Be That We Go), Host, 2004 – Stories
Jsme tady (Wir sind hier), Host, 2006 – „Eine Geschichte in zehn Erzählungen" Tady jsme (We Are Here), Host, 2006 – "A story in ten stories"
Bezruč?!, 2009 – drama (along with Ivan Motyl, first mentioned in 2009 in Ostrava Petr Bezruč Theatre)

Awards

"It May Be That We Go" – the Magnesia Litera 2005 for prose – as well as a nomination for the "State Prize for Literature".

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jan Balabán .

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 58423267 LCCN: n2001040080 ISNI: 0000 0001 0976 7257 GND: 139541977 NKC: jn19990202001

Persondata
Name	Balaban, Jan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	29 January 1961
Place of birth	Sumperk, Czechoslovakia
Date of death	23 April 2010
Place of death

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.