Johannes Urzidil (3 February 1896 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 ...

– 2 November 1970 in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

) 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 species; as well as the ...

. His father was a German Bohemian and his mother was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Life

Urzidil was educated in

, studying German,

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

, and

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

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 assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

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, Ludwig Winder and

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

. 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 Sovereign state, 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 ...

in Prague. When

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

was occupied by

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, acquiring American

citizen Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...

ship in 1946. Urzidil died in

in 1970.

Works

Although he published poetry, Urzidil is best known for his

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

which, though written in

exile Exile or banishment 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 ...

, reflects his

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

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) about

Adalbert Stifter Adalbert Stifter (; 23 October 1805 – 28 January 1868) was a Bohemian- Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing and has long been popular in the German-speaking wo ...

′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 , "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 ...

in the tradition of

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. (trilogy), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...

, Thomas Wolfe, and Alfred Döblin 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 generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

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 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., the companion of Urzidil's life-saver Bryher.

Awards

Urzidil won a number of prizes in his career, including the Charles Veillon Prize (1957) and the Großer Österreichischer Staatspreis (1964).

Legacy

The main-belt

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

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 The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...

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 () is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic. Broadcasting first began on 31 August 1936 near the spa town of Poděbrady. Radio Prague broadcasts in six languages: English, German, Fr ...

''
''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 based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

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

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

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Urzidil, Johannes 1896 births 1970 deaths Czech writers in German 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