Jiří Weil

Jiří Weil ( born August 6, 1900 in Praskolesy at Horovice, † December 13, 1959 in Prague) was a Czech writer, literary critic, journalist and translator.

Biography

After leaving school in 1919 he studied at the Charles University in Prague Slavic philology and comparative literature. He graduated in 1928 from a doctoral thesis on Gogol and English novel of the 18th century. During his studies he worked until 1931 as a translator for the Press Department of the Soviet representative in Prague.

Because, a convinced communist, was a member of several avant-garde groups such as " Devětsil " and lived from 1933 to 1935 in the Soviet Union. 1937, joined him for his appearing in the same year the novel " Moscow The Border" (1937 ), in which he critically inter alia with the Soviet Stalinist reality of political terror in 1935 dealt, from the party. He walked half a year to Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan). The end of 1935 he returned and devoted himself to journalistic work. When he as Jews were threatened with deportation, he went into hiding ( 1942-45 ).

From 1946 to 1949 he worked as an editor of the European literary clubs before he went for eight years in 1950 as a research associate at the Jewish Museum in Prague. 1951 joined him from one of the Syndicate of Czech authors. In 1956 he was allowed to re-enter the Association, but most of his works appeared later.

Works

As published in numerous magazines and newspapers, including Literární noviny and Rudé Pravo.

His work as both influence for modern prose. He was a very important translator of Russian literature, especially of works of writer Vladimir Mayakovsky, Nikolai Aseyev, Boris Pasternak, Maxim Gorky, Mikhail Zoshchenko Nadezhda Krupskaya and.

In his documentary novel published in 1947 reminders of Julius Fučík ( Vzpomínky na Julia Fučíka ), the main character is an accused wrongly communist. This makes use of the possibility of escape not, but committed in the interest of the party to acts he did not commit and accepts the punishment. This work was in his time one of the toughest criticisms of Stalinism. Non - Communists disturbed above all the previous affiliation to Weil's Communist Party. This book was heavily criticized at the time by all Czech Stalinists. The sharpest critic was there his friend Julius Fučík.

The publication of the book led to seven years of publication ban for Weil.

Next are published in German language:

• Six Tiger in Basel, 2006
• Elegy for 77297 victims, 1999
• Mendelssohn on the roof, 1995 - A novel about anti-Semitism
• Moscow, the border, 1992
• Exile in the Soviet Union, 1976

Source

• Bibliographical Institute & FA Brockhaus AG, Der Brockhaus multimedial premium 2005, 2005
• Czech Literature since 1945 (Česká literatura od r. 1945)