Julius Zeyer
Encyclopedia
Julius Zeyer was a Czech prose writer, poet, and playwright
.
Zeyer was born into a father of German-French
(Alsatian
) nobility, and mother of Jewish family, and learned the Czech language
from his nanny
. He was expected to take over the family's factory but instead decided to learn carpentering. Attempts to study high school and university were unsuccessful. During his life he frequently traveled in Europe and the Orient. After 1877 he moved to Vodňany
, where he spent over a decade with literary work. Afterwards, he returned to Prague.
Zeyer's epic poems, including Vyšehrad (1880), and Karolinská epopeja (1896), draw from Czech and French legends respectively, and celebrate the glorious past of ancients, compared to the bleak present. He took inspiration from the Czech
, Russian, Irish, and French history. His novels describe persons trying to live a better life under the romantic ideals and people who find peace only at the moment of death. His semi-autobiographical novel Jan Maria Plojhar (1891) deals with the tragic nature of an artist. Zeyer's dramatic works were written in a similar style.
Josef Suk
composed his Pohádka
(Fairy Tale) on a play by Zeyer.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
.
Zeyer was born into a father of German-French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
(Alsatian
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
) nobility, and mother of Jewish family, and learned the Czech language
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
from his nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
. He was expected to take over the family's factory but instead decided to learn carpentering. Attempts to study high school and university were unsuccessful. During his life he frequently traveled in Europe and the Orient. After 1877 he moved to Vodňany
Vodnany
Vodňany is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 7,000 inhabitants.Administrative parts of Vodňany are: Čavyně, Hvožďany, Křtětice, Pražák, Radčice, Újezd, Vodňanské Svobodné Hory, Vodňany I and Vodňany II....
, where he spent over a decade with literary work. Afterwards, he returned to Prague.
Works
Zeyer's prose and poems are restless, nostalgic, mystical, depressive, and usually end tragically.Zeyer's epic poems, including Vyšehrad (1880), and Karolinská epopeja (1896), draw from Czech and French legends respectively, and celebrate the glorious past of ancients, compared to the bleak present. He took inspiration from the Czech
History of the Czech lands
The history of the Czech lands includes the following periods:* Slavs: Bohemians and Moravians – arrival into Czech area during the 6th century * Samo’s realm * Moravian principality in Moravia* Great Moravia...
, Russian, Irish, and French history. His novels describe persons trying to live a better life under the romantic ideals and people who find peace only at the moment of death. His semi-autobiographical novel Jan Maria Plojhar (1891) deals with the tragic nature of an artist. Zeyer's dramatic works were written in a similar style.
Josef Suk
Josef Suk (composer)
Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist.- Life :Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and Antonín Bennewitz. In 1898, he married Dvořák's eldest daughter, Otilie Dvořáková , affectionately known as Otilka...
composed his Pohádka
Fairy Tale (Suk)
Josef Suk wrote the music for Julius Zeyer's mythological drama Radúz and Mahulena in 1897-8. In 1899-1900, Suk extracted a four-movement Suite to this Pohadka . Zeyer greatly impressed Suk. The style and orchestration is much affected by Richard Strauss , although Suk's writing is somewhat simpler...
(Fairy Tale) on a play by Zeyer.