Johannes Urzidil (3 February 1896 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

– 2 November 1970 in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) was a German-Bohemian writer, poet and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

. His father was a

German Bohemian German Bohemians (german: Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer, i.e. German Bohemians and German Moravians), later known as Sudeten Germans, were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part o ...

and his mother was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Life

Urzidil was educated in

, studying

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

, and

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Ear ...

before turning to journalism and writing. His initial efforts in poetry were influenced by

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

, and were published under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Hans Elmar. He also worked as a writer and editor of the monthly journal '' Der Mensch''. Among his acquaintances during this period were

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and Poetry, poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of ''Th ...

, Ludwig Winder and

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

. From 1922 until 1933 he advised the press section of the German

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

in Prague. When

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

was occupied by

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

Germany in 1939, he was dismissed from employment by the German embassy because of his being "Halbjude" ("half-Jewish", a Nazi designation) and this situation caused Urzidil to emigrate to Great Britain. There he was financially supported by the British writer Bryher. In 1941 he and his wife, the poet Gertrude Urzidil, came to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, acquiring American

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

ship in 1946. Although he published poetry, Urzidil is best known for his

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...

which, though written in

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

, reflects his

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

n heritage just as well as his new American environment. Among his more notable works are the story ''Der Trauermantel'' (1945, Trauermantel is the German name of the

Camberwell beauty ''Nymphalis antiopa'', known as the mourning cloak in North America and the Camberwell beauty in Britain, is a large butterfly native to Eurasia and North America. The immature form of this species is sometimes known as the spiny elm caterpillar ...

) about Adalbert Stifter′s youth, and his collections of short stories like ' (1956; the title refers as well to Prague which he had to leave behind when the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia as to his first love), ''Prague Triptych'' (1960, whose composition is derived from that of an altarpiece), or ''Kidnapping and Seven Other Incidents'' (1964, whose eight stories are situated in the USA). Urzidil's only novel ''The Great Hallelujah'' (1959) shows as literary

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

in the tradition of John Dos Passos,

Thomas Wolfe Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American novelist of the early 20th century. Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels as well as many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is known for mixing highly origin ...

, and

Alfred Döblin Bruno Alfred Döblin (; 10 August 1878 – 26 June 1957) was a German novelist, essayist, and doctor, best known for his novel '' Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1929). A prolific writer whose œuvre spans more than half a century and a wide variety of ...

a manifold panorama of the United States as he experienced them since his arrival in 1941. He wrote also books and essays about cultural history, e. g. ''The Fortune of Presence. Goethe's View of America'' (1958), ''America and the Ancient World'' (1964), and ''There Goes Kafka'' (1965, enlarged 1966), or

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

s about artists and poets he admired, such as '' Hollar, a Czech émigré in England'' (1942, revised and abridged translation of his German book ''Wenceslaus Hollar - the Engraver of the Baroque Era'', 1936), or his

opus magnum A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

in this genre ''Goethe in

'' (1932, revised and enlarged 1962 and 1965). More over Urzidil translated texts and books from Czech and English into German; worth mentioning is especially his translation (1955) of ''By Avon River'' (1949) by the American poet

H.D. Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886 – September 27, 1961) was an American modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who wrote under the name H.D. throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after she moved to London and co-founded the ...

, the companion of Urzidil's life-saver Bryher. Urzidil won a number of prizes in his career, including the Charles Veillon Prize (1957) and the Großer Österreichischer Staatspreis (1964). He died in

in 1970.

Legacy

The main-belt

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

70679 Urzidil is named after Urzidil.

References

Johannes Urzidil at Answers.com

Biography at the Český Krumlov Encyclopedia

External links

''Guide to the Papers of Johannes and Gertrude Urzidil''
at Leo Baeck Institute, New York
Website of the Johannes Urzidil Society
with detailed biography, bibliography etc.
Website about Urzidil
by the Urzidil researcher

an
Vera Schneider
with detailed bibliography of secondary literature, annotated collection of links, news about Urzidil and his work, and much more information
''Athalia Montez, Advice'' (1964)
an American story by Urzidil, translated into English b
David Burnett

Detailed Biography
by Klaus Johann at www.exil-archiv.de
''Prague author Johannes Urzidil remembered 40 years after his death''
b
Rob Cameron
for ''

Radio Prague Radio Prague International ( cs, Český rozhlas 7 – Radio Praha) is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic. Broadcasting first began on August 31, 1936 near the spa town of Poděbrady. Radio Prague broadcasts in ...

''
''The Fictional Country You Build When Your Home No Longer Exists''
comprehensive article about Urzidil b
James Reith
in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

''
About the word ''hinternational'', coined by Urzidil
- an essay by Djelal Kadir in ''

World Literature Today ''World Literature Today'' is an American magazine of international literature and culture, published at the University of Oklahoma. The stated goal of the magazine is to publish international essays, poetry, fiction, interviews, and book review ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Urzidil, Johannes 1896 births 1970 deaths Czech writers in German Czech poets German Bohemian people Jewish Czech writers Czech male poets Czech journalists Czech expatriates in the United Kingdom Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States American people of German Bohemian descent Writers from Prague 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century male writers 20th-century journalists