Božena Němcová (1820 – 1862)
She represented want for our literature to be unique and also represented
egalitarian movement for equal rights for women. Her real name was
Barbora Panklová. Her life is full of mysteries, we cannot even certainly
say, that this is her correct date of birth, or who her parents were. She
married Josef Němec and because he was a stubborn nationalist, they had
to move quite often. She was quite sad because of this and argued a lot
with him. She died alone in Prague.
Jan Neruda (1834 – 1891)
Writer, a journalist and also a playwright. He never married and most of his life he
was writing love letters to his crushes. But he was still one the greatest persons of
our literature (at least for me). He was also a good essay writer. He also
translated some well-known authors into our language. His most famous writings
were poem Hřbitovní kvítí and a collection of novels and stories called Povídky
malostranské.
Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924)
He was a Czech short story writer and novelist born in
Prague. He died of tuberculosis. He was born into Jewish family and his
mother tongue was German, so he wrote in the German language. Like
Neruda, he never married. He was also an anti-militarist and denounced
WWI.
His notable writings: The Trial, The Metamorphosis.
Jaroslav Seifert (1901 – 1986)
A poet and the only holder of the Nobel prize for literature in the Czech
Republic. He was born in Prague. He had seen the era of fascism and
communism in our country, so very often he had to reduce his work to the
ideals of ideology (but he instead didn´t write at all). After year 1968, his
work was forbidden in our country. Thankfully, he never abandoned his
beliefs and also helped young authors.
( F. L.)
Resources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_hus_1.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comenius_P%C3%A4dagoge.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Josef_Dobrovsky_-_bust.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Vil%C3%ADmek_-_Karel_Hynek_M%C3%A1cha.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Neruda_02.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kafka.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bo%C5%BEena_N%C4%9Bmcov%C3%A1_1850.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Jaroslav_Seifert#/media/File:Jaroslav_Seifert_1981_foto_Hana_Hamplov%C3%A1_crop.jpg