Josef Knap (28 July 1900 – 13 December 1973) 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 *Czech (surnam ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

. Born in Podůlší near

Jičín Jičín (; or ''Gitschin'') is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservatio ...

, Knap studied at the Classical Grammar school until 1919. He graduated from the College of Philosophy at

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 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 ...

in 1924, with a degree in modern literature. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he traveled throughout Europe visiting countries including Germany,

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, Norway, Italy and France. From 1925 he worked in the

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

department of the National Museum of Czechoslovakia. He stayed there until 1951, eventually becoming the museum's administrator. His time there was interrupted by the

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 ...

occupation of Czechoslovakia, which he spent in Arbeitsansatz. Because of

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

themes in his work, Knap became a victims of the political persecution of Catholic intellectuals by the

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in the 1950s. In 1952, he was condemned without any evidence to eleven years in prison, but was released early in 1955 (he was pardoned in 1967 during a brief period of political freedom). After his release he worked as a building laborer, and later in the Memorial of National Literature. In the 1960s, he focused on the history of theater groups. Based on his work in this area, he published ''Umělcové na pouti'' (

''Traveling artists'') in 1961. Knap died in Prague and is buried in Železnice by Jičín. In 1997, his

memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...

were published under the name ''Bez poslední kapitoly'' (Czech ''Without the last chapter'').

Works

Knap's writings combine realistic and

impressionistic Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

elements. His inspiration came from northern European authors and some Czech writers, above all

Antal Stašek Antal Stašek (born Antonín Zeman) (22 July 1843 – 9 October 1931) was a Czech writer and lawyer. Life and work Stašek was born in the village of Stanový (now part of Zlatá Olešnice) in northern Bohemia. From 1877, Stašek was a successfu ...

Karel Václav Rais Karel Václav Rais (January 4, 1859 – July 8, 1926) was a Czech realist novelist, author of the so-called ''country prose'', numerous books for youth and children, and several poems. Biography Rais was born into the family of a simple farm ...

and the impressionist

Fráňa Šrámek Fráňa Šrámek (19 January 1877, Sobotka – 1 July 1952, Prague) was a Czech impressionist and vitalist poet, novelist, playwright and anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to ...

. He devoted his work to rural themes.

Short story collections

*''Píseň na samotě'' (1924) *''Zaváté šlépěje'' (1929–1940) *''Žloutnou stráně'' (1929) *''Polní kytice'', (1935) *''Trojlístek'' (1943) *''Čas kopřiv'' (1970)

Novels

*''Ztracené jaro'' (1922) *''Réva na zdi'' (1926) *''Muži a hory'' (1928) *''Vysoké jarní nebe'' (1932) *''Cizinec'' (1934) *''Puszta'' (1937) *''Dívčí hlas'' (1938) *''Věno'' (1944) *''Dokud vane vítr'' (1968) *''Vzdálená země'' (1969) *''Bez poslední kapitoly'' (1997) (memoirs)

Professional works about theater

*''Hilbert'' (1926) *''Zöllnerové: Dějiny divadelního rodu'' (1958) *''Umělcové na pouti: České divadelní společnosti v 19. století'' (1961) *''Čtyři herečky: Spurná, Vojtová, Brzková, Beníšková'' (1967)

Historical works

* ''Alej srdcí'' (1920) – debut book of

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

s concerning Czech postwar poetry * ''Úvod do krásné literatury'' (1924) * ''Cesty a vůdcové: k literatuře let dvacátých'' (1926) * ''Básníci selství'' (1932) * ''Fráňa Šrámek'' (1937) * ''Literatura české půdy'' (1939) * ''

Selma Lagerlöf Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish writer. She published her first novel, ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was ...

ová'' (1949) – studies concerning this significant Swedish female author

Collections of poems