Julius Zeyer

Julius Zeyer ( born April 26, 1841 in Prague, † January 29, 1901 ) was a Czech writer, poet and playwright German - French descent.

Life

Zeyer came from a middle class family in Prague. His father, a wood wholesaler, came from an impoverished French nobility. His mother was the daughter of a German Jewish family. The Czech language he learned from his nurse, who told him Bohemian legends and fairy tales, and he was grateful for his life teaching the Czech language.

He learned the carpentry trade, began studies at the secondary school, however, he finished as little as studying at the Technical School. He then traveled to Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. After his return, he studied classical languages ​​at the Faculty and undertook journeys again and again throughout Europe. He has worked as an educator in a Russian noble family, traveled to Sweden, Germany, Italy and Greece. The experience he immortalized later than impressions in his novels.

In the 1870s he joined the Lumírovci, however, belonged to the passive part of the literary group.

In 1887 he moved to Vodňany to, befriended with Otakar Mokrý and František Herites, made ​​further trips to the Balkans and on the Crimean peninsula. In 1899 he returned to Prague. He lived with his friend Josef Hlávka, a promoter of Czech art.

Works

His oeuvre is difficult to assign a category, however, was the Lumírovci, a cosmopolitan school, the next. The character of his works after, you can assign him the Neoromantismus.

His epic poetry dealt with the glorious Czech history, with which he wanted to strengthen the national consciousness.

Works in German language

• Florence in the snow
• Feniciens sin
• Starlight
• Novel by the loyal friendship of Amis and Amil Knight