Jan Balabán (29 January 1961 – 23 April 2010) was a
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
*Czech, ...
writer, journalist, and translator. He was considered an
existentialist
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...
whose works often dealt with the wretched and desperate aspects of the
human condition
The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed f ...
.
Partial biography
Balabán was actually born in
Šumperk
Šumperk (; german: Mährisch Schönberg) is a town in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 26,000 inhabitants. It is the centre of the north of Moravia and, due to its location, is known as "The Gate to the Jeseníky mountains. ...
,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
, but he had already moved with his family to
Ostrava
Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four ri ...
by the time he was a year old. He graduated from
Palacký University, Olomouc with a degree from the Department of Philosophy. Following graduation, he visited England, Canada and the United States. In 1984 he had a two-month internship at
Kings College King's College or The King's College refers to two higher education institutions in the United Kingdom:
*King's College, Cambridge, a constituent of the University of Cambridge
* King's College London, a constituent of the University of London
It c ...
in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...
in Scotland. His first serious publication was a book of short stories – "The Middle Ages" in 1985. He then worked as a technical translator at the
Vítkovice ironworks
An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''.
Ironworks succeeded bloome ...
and later as a
freelance
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance ...
translator and journalist, making regular contributions to the magazine ''
Respekt
''Respekt'' is a Czech weekly newsmagazine published in Prague, the Czech Republic, reporting on domestic and foreign political and economic issues, as well as on science and culture.
History and profile
''Respekt'' was founded very ...
''. He also translated the works of
H. P. Lovecraft and
Terry Eagleton
Terence Francis Eagleton (born 22 February 1943) is an English literary theorist, critic, and public intellectual. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University.
Eagleton has published over forty book ...
into Czech.
In the 1990s, he, along with
Petr Hruška, participated in publishing the magazine ''Landek''.
Speaking of his steel-town home city, he recalled
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most ...
(to whom he was compared), saying: "If you write about a place, you not only love it, but find much to hate." Also a
connoisseur
A connoisseur (French traditional, pre-1835, spelling of , from Middle-French , then meaning 'to be acquainted with' or 'to know somebody/something') is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts; who is a keen appreciator o ...
of the arts, Balabán's knowledge allowed him to write articles and essays for relevant art
journals,
exhibitions
An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...
, catalogs and newspapers. A founding member of the group
Prirozeni (The Natural – founded 1980), Balabán helped
proliferate the underground arts community and rehabilitate the urban landscape by organizing exhibitions in attics, hallways, in subways and on slag heaps in the suburbs of Ostrava. One of Balabán's most important works, ''
Možná že odcházíme'' (It May Be That We Go), is a collection of twenty stories in just a hundred pages. The stories deal with characters inspired by people from his home city and the difficult periods in their lives as they suffer disappointments and failures at work and home.
Balabán died on 23 April 2010 at the age of 49. In the week leading up to his death, he was at a month-long authors' festival held in both his home town of Ostrava and
Brno.
Balabán was divorced with two children. In the last three years he had been working on a new book that dealt with the death of his father.
Published works
* Středověk (Mittelalter), Sfinga, 1995 – Středověk (Middle Ages), Sfinga, 1995 – Stories
* Boží lano (Gottes Seil), Vetus Via, 1998 – Boží lano (God's Rope), Vetus Via, 1998 – Stories
* Prázdniny (Ferien), Host, 1998 – Prázdniny (Holiday), host, 1998 – Narratives
* Černý beran (Der schwarze Widder), Host, 2000 – Černý beran (The Black Ram), host, 2000 – Roman
* Srdce draka (Das Herz des Drachen), Aluze, 2001 – Srdce Draka (The Heart of the Dragon), Aluze, 2001 – Comic
* Kudy šel anděl (Wohin der Engel ging), Vetus Via, 2003, Host, 2005 – Kudy šel anděl (Where the Angel Went), Vetus Via, 2003, Host, 2005 – Roman
* Možná že odcházíme (Kann sein, dass wir gehen), Host, 2004 – Možná že odcházíme (It May Be That We Go), Host, 2004 – Stories
* Jsme tady (Wir sind hier), Host, 2006 – "Eine Geschichte in zehn Erzählungen" Tady jsme (We Are Here), Host, 2006 – "A story in ten stories"
* Bezruč?!, 2009 – drama (along with Ivan Motyl, first mentioned in 2009 in Ostrava
Petr Bezruč
Petr Bezruč () was the pseudonym of Vladimír Vašek (; 15 September 1867 – 17 February 1958), a Czech poet and short story writer who was associated with the region of Austrian Silesia.
His most notable work is ''Silesian Songs,'' a coll ...
Theatre)
Awards
* "It May Be That We Go" – the
Magnesia Litera
Magnesia Litera is an annual book award held in the Czech Republic since 2002. The prize covers all literary genres in eight genre categories: prose, poetry, children's book (since 2004), non-fiction, essay/ journalism (since 2007), transla ...
2005 for prose – as well as a nomination for the "State Prize for Literature".
References
External links
2005 Český rozhlas articleJan Balabán on Facebook"A Child on Fire" Translated from the Czech by Ivory RodriguezCzech mini-biography in English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balaban, Jan
1961 births
2010 deaths
People from Šumperk
Czech novelists
Male novelists
Czech male writers
Czech journalists
Czech translators
Existentialists
20th-century novelists
20th-century translators
20th-century male writers
Palacký University Olomouc alumni
Magnesia Litera winners