Jan Rypka, PhDr., Dr.Sc. (28 May 1886 in

Kroměříž Kroměříž (; ) is a town in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 28,000 inhabitants. It is known for Kroměříž Castle with its castle gardens, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The historic town centre with the castle ...

– 29 December 1968 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 ...

) was a prominent Czech orientalist, translator, professor of

Iranology Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field ...

and

Turkology Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and the Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative c ...

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

, Prague.

Jan Rypka was a participant in

Ferdowsi Millenary Celebration The Ferdowsi millennial celebration () was a series of celebrations and scholarly events in the year 1934 to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of Ferdowsi's birth. The Ferdowsi millennial was held at the initiative of Reza Shah Pahlavi a ...

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

in 1934.''Naše řeč'' no. 1, vol. 32 (1948) (Czech)
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Early life

Rypka's father owned a small business. As a child he was given the ''Arabian Nights''. He described the book's effect on his life as breathing "mysterious forces there." After completing his schooling he enrolled at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

.www.libri.cz (Czech)
/ref> He graduated in

Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...

. Then in 1910 he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic languages. (Czech) After graduation Rypka set up a small business of translating

Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

al texts. However, he soon left the business because he found a better job, even if not so closely related to his orientalist background, as he was appointed at the Viennese court and university printing office. Rypka moved to Prague following the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state. There he devoted himself fully to Oriental studies. He also joined the civil service for a short time. In April 1921, he found work as a

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

. That same summer, he was granted a sabbatical leave to travel to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Rypka stayed in Constantinople for nearly a year and a half. In that ancient city he found ample opportunities to know and understand the Orient close up, an experience he put in the book he wrote about his stay in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Return From Constantinople

Rypka once again began work at the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

after returning from Constantinople. He began working on Turkish

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 ...

, analyzing the works of such poets as Sabit and

Bâkî Bâḳî (باقى) was the pen name (Ottoman Turkish: مخلص ''mahlas'') of the Ottoman Turkish poet Mahmud Abdülbâkî (محمود عبدالباقى) . Considered one of the greatest contributors to Turkish literature. Bâkî came to b ...

. Beginning in the

1930s File:1930s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Owens Thompson, Florence Thompson shows the effects of the Great Depression; due to extreme drought conditions, farms across the south-central Uni ...

, Rypka moved his focus to

Persian poetry Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day ...

. The central figure in his research was the Persian poet Nizami. Another of his key subjects was the medieval poet

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

. In the fall of 1934 Rypka was invited by the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian government to attend the celebrations of the 1000th anniversary of Ferdous' birth. He ended up spending a full year in Iran, doing academic research. He wrote about his year in Iran in the popular book ''Iranian Pilgrim''.

The Oriental Institute

Rypka was the driving force behind the establishment of the Oriental Institute, of which he was one of the earliest members. He contributed to the institute's development, contributing not only as a journalist but as an adviser and patron in its incipient stages. He is even credited with naming the institute's archives, the Archive Oriental.

Works

In 1939 Rypka was appointed

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

of the

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

of the

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

. During his tenure, he focused the research on Persian poets, notably Labbibi and Farrochi. His biggest achievement was the work on the history of Persian and

Tajik literature Tajik literature and its history are bound up with the standardisation of the Tajik language. Tajik literary centres include the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, currently in present-day Uzbekistan but with a majority Tajik population and Balkh ...

, which was published in 1956. The work won critical acclaim from fellow professionals and was translated into many languages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rypka, Jan Czech orientalists Iranologists Turkish poetry 1886 births 1968 deaths Members of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature Academic staff of Charles University