Ivan Wernisch (born 18 June 1942) is a

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and a

collage Collage (, from the , "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 assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

artist. He studied Ceramics Secondary school in

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(he left in 1959) and has since done many jobs, mostly manual. In 1961, after publishing his debut

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

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, he quickly established himself as one of the best and most loved writers of his generation. During the 70s and 80s he prepared many

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shows about famous poets of the world (in which he often – true to his interest in mystifications – wrote many of the poems himself), but his books could not be published officially. After the

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he worked in a newspaper. Now he works as an editor in the Current Czech Poetry Library. He is also a renowned translator from

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, French and

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. His work as an

is focused mainly on forgotten Czech poets of the last three centuries. Another Czech poet, Ewald Murrer, is his son. Ivan Wernisch lives in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Works

After his first couple of books, which were rather playful, his poetry began to turn into more dreamy and also absurd one. His poems, full of great imagery based on

neologisms In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

, absurd landscapes and mis-quoting other writers, become increasingly sad, if not tragic, with each new book since 1989. His influences include both

dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

and

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 ...

. His books were published in translations in Germany, Italy,

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and United States. He was awarded the Seifert Prize and Premio Capri and the Franz Kafka Prize. Poetry *''Kam letí nebe'' (1961) *''Těšení'' (1963) *''Zimohrádek'' (1965) *''Dutý břeh'' (1967) *''Loutky'' (1970) *''Zasuté zahrady'' ''(výbor z ineditních sbírek)'' (1984),

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

*''Žil, nebyl (výbor z let 1970–84)'' (1988),

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

*''Včerejší den (výbor z let 1965–1989)'' (1989) *''Frc (překlady, překrady)'' (1991) *''Ó kdežpak'' (1991) *''Doupě latinářů'' (1992) *''Zlatomodrý konec stařičkého léta'' (1994) *''Pekařova noční nůše'' (1994) *''Jen tak'' (1996) *''Proslýchá se'' (1996) *''Cesta do Ašchabadu neboli Pumpke a dalajlámové'' (1997) *''Z letošního konce světa'' ( heteronym Václav Rozehnal) (2000) *''Cesta do Ašchabadu neboli Pumpke a dalajlámové'' (2000) *''Lásku já nestojím'' (2001) *''Bez kufru se tak pěkně skáče po stromech neboli Nún'' (2001) *''Půjdeme do Mů'' (2002) *''Blbecká poezie'' (2002) *''Růžovejch květů sladká vůně (Virtuos na prdel)'' (2003) *''Hlava na stole'' (2005) *''Býkárna'' (with Michal Šanda and Milan Ohnisko) (2006) *''Byl jednou jeden svět'' (with photographer Petr Hruška, b. 1949) (2008) *''Kominické lodě'' (2009) *''Příběh dešťové kapky'' (Selected poems in three volumes) (2010) *''Nikam'' (2010) *''Chodit po provaze je snadné'' (2011) *''Hlava na stole/La tête sur la table'' (bilingual, Czech and French) (2013) *''S brokovnicí pod kabátem'' (2014) Editor of (among other books) *''Zapadlo slunce za dnem, který nebyl / Zapomenutí, opomíjení a opovrhovaní. Z jiné historie české literatury (léta 1850–1940)'' (2001) *''Píseň o nosu / Zapomenutí, opomíjení a opovrhovaní. Z jiné historie novočeské literatury (od počátků až do roku 1948)'' (2005) *''Quodlibet aneb jak se komu co líbí'' (2008) *''Kdo to čte, je prase'' (2008) *''Živ jsem byl!'' (2012) *''Nejlepší české básně 2013'' (with Wanda Heinrichová) (2013) For children * ''Střelnice'' (1987) Books published abroad *''Au jour d'hier'', translated by P. Ouředník, 1990, France *''Es beginnt der gestrige Tag: Gedichte'', 1990, Germany *''Cmentarz objazdowy'', translated by L. Engelking, 1991, Poland *''Ausgewühlte Schriften'', translated by Peter Urban, 1994, Germany *''Pchli teatrzyk'', translated by L. Engelking, Poland, vol. I, 2003, vol. II, 2007 *''Corre voce ovvero la morte ci attendeva altrove'', 2005, Italy *''In the Puppet Gardens: Selected Poems, 1963-2005'', 2007, USA *''Der alte Rabe'', 2010, Germany

References

External links

Ivan WernischIvan WernischInfo in Czech
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wernisch, Ivan 1942 births Living people 20th-century Czech poets 21st-century Czech poets Czech collage artists Czech male poets Writers from Prague Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Czech monarchists Czech translators Czech radio presenters Czech editors