Josef Václav Sládek

Sládek, Josef Václav

 

Born Oct. 27, 1845, in Zbiroh; died there June 28, 1912. Czech poet.

Sládek studied at Charles University. He published his first poems, patriotic works written in a freedom-loving spirit, in the late 1860’s. His most important collections were On the Threshold of Paradise (1883), From Life (1884), Village Songs and Bohemian Sonnets (1890), and Bohemian Songs (1892). His poems are largely based on themes of village life. Sládek wrote poems for children and translated the works of Western European and Russian poets.

WORKS

Výbor poesie. Prague, 1951.
Básnĕ. Prague, 1954.
In Russian translation:
In Antologiia cheshskoi poezii, vol. 2. Moscow, 1959.

REFERENCES

Ocherki istorii cheshskoi literatury XIX–XX vv. Moscow, 1963.
Strejč ek, F. Sládek jak žil pracoval a trpĕl, 2nd ed. Prague, 1948.