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FOREIGN REFLECTION OF JAROSLAV SEIFERT'S WORK
Abstract
The paper deals with the foreign reflection of the work of Jaroslav Seifert, a Czech poet who belongs to the so-called semi-official “grey zone” and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The analysis is based on two essays by Igor Hajek, a distinguished exile critic, included in the collection of Hajek’s literary essays, which was published in Czech translation in 2007. In the first of these articles, Hajek reminds foreign readers of the confined atmosphere of the 1950s, when many authors lost the opportunity to publish. Jaroslav Seifert provoked a hateful response by publishing a tragically tuned collection of love poetry, The Song of Viktorka, and the paper deals with the question of the reasons for this scathing criticism from Seifert’s contemporaries. The text also follows the development of the reception of the poet’s work in English-speaking countries and analyses the causes of his growing popularity abroad. Hajek’s second essay is devoted to Seifer’s memoirs All the Beauties of the World; they were published abroad first, and only after later they appeared in Czechoslovakia, but in a highly censored form, from which it can be traced how the censorship disrupts of the essence of an artwork.
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References10
HГЎjek I. ProkletГЎ i poЕѕehnanГЎ. Eseje o ДЌeskГ© literatuЕ™e. Praha: DokoЕ™ГЎn, 2007, pp. 168-173.
Parrott C. „Introduction to SEIFERT, J.“ In: The Plague Column. London: Terra Nova Editions Ltd., 1979, pp. 10-19.
ChvatГk K. Melancholie a vzdor. Praha: ДЊeskoslovenskГЅ spisovatel, pp. 112-118.
OSERS, E. „Introduction to SEIFERT, J.“ In: Umbrella from Piccadilly. London: London Magazine Editions, 1983, p. 4.
The Times, 20 October 1984, p. 9.
The Listener, 18 October 1984, p. 21.
„Jaroslav Seifert.“ British Library, Exhibition notes, 1985, p. 1.
The Bookseller, 20 October 1984
The Standard, 15 October 1984, p. 6.
The Guardian, 12 October 1984, p. 15.
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