Egon Hostovský

Egon Hostovský ( born April 23, 1908 in Hronov; † 7 May 1973 in Montclair, New Jersey) was a Czech writer of Jewish origin.

Life

After attending high school in Náchod a short study of philosophy followed in Prague and Vienna, after which he worked from 1930 for Prague publishers and from 1937 at the Foreign Ministry. In 1939 he emigrated to a working visit to Brussels to Paris, after its occupation by Portugal and the USA. In 1946 he returned and again worked at the State Department in 1948, he worked first in Denmark and then at the embassy in Oslo. He emigrated to the USA again. Here he first taught the Czech language, wrote for several newspapers and was editor at Radio Free Europe.

Works

His work is strongly influenced by his Jewish origins and emigration. His first works were influenced by expressionism. His heroes fight with evil and are forced by the political situation, to leave their homes. In foreign lands they then seek the lost security and own roots. He was a member of the group 42