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Jaroslav Seifert, recipient of the 1984 Nobel Prize for Literature, was born into a working-class family in Prague, Czechoslovakia. His father was a manager of a general store. He had no formal education beyond elementary school. As a teenager he worked for the Communist Party newspaper RUDE PRAVO. He was later expelled from the Communist Party, and he joined the Social Democrats.
Seifert published over 30 collections of poetry. His first volume, MESTO V SLZACH (THE CITY OF TEARS), was published when he was 19 years old. One of his most famous poems is "Zhasnete Svetla" which is the title poem to his 1938 volume of poetry. His autobiography, VSECKY KRASY SVETA (ALL THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD), was published in 1981.
Seifert died in Prague, Czechoslavakia, in 1986.
CHRONOLOGY
1901 He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. (September 23)
1920 MESTO V SLZACH (THE CITY IN TEARS); He began travelling in Europe as a journalist.
1922 REVOLUCNI SBORNIK DEVETSIL
1923 SAMA LASKA
1925 NA VINACH T.S.F. (OVER THE WAVES), SVATEBNI CESTA
1926 SLAVIK ZPIVA SHPATNE (THE NIGHTINGALE SINGS OUT OF TUNE)
1929 HVEZDY NAD RAJSKOU ZAHRADOU; He was expelled from the Communist Party and joined the Social Democrats.
1930 He became an editor in chief of the theater monthly NOVA SCENA.
1933 JABLKO S KLINA
1936 RUCE VENUSINY
1937 OSM DNI, BASNIKU KARLU TOMANOVI
1938 ZHASNETE SVETLA, SVATEBNI CESTA (HONEYMOON RIDE)
1940 VEJIR BOZENY NEMCOVE (BOZENA NEMCOVA'S FAN), SVETLEM ODENA, PRAHA
1944 KAMENNY MOST
1945 PRILBA HLINY; He edited the Trad Union daily PRACE.
1948 RUKA A PLANEM
1949 POZDRAV FRANTISKOVI HALASOVI, S OBLACKY HROZNU, ROMANCE O KRALIE VACLAVU IV
1950 PISEN O VIKTORCE
1951 MOZART V PRAZE (MOZART IN PRAGUE), PETRIN
1954 ROMANCE O MLADI A O VINE, MAMINKA
1955 KOULELO SE, KOULELO
1956 CHLAPECK A HVZDY
1965 KONCERT NA OSTROVE
1966 DVA SVETY, PRSTEN TREBONSKE MADONE; He was named Poet of the Nation.
1967 ODLEVANI ZVONU (THE CASTING OF THE BELLS), HALLEYOVA KOMETA (HALLEY'S COMET)
1968 ZPEVY O PRAZE; He headed the Union of Czech Writers.; He condemned the Soviet invasion of Czechoslavakia.
1969 He was elected chairman of the Czechoslovakian Writers' Association.
1970 He defied a state ban on publishing abroad.
1977 He signed the Charter on Human Rights.
1979 DESTNIK Z PICCADILLY (AN UMBRELA FORM PICCADILLY)
1981 MOROYV SLOUP, VSECKY KRASY SVETA
1982 THE PLAGUE COLUMS, RUSSIAN BLINY
1984 He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
1985 EIGHT DAYS, AN ELEGY FOR T.G.M.
1986 THE SELECTED POETRY OF JARASLAV SEIFERT; He died in Prague, Czechoslovakia. (January 10)
1992 DRESSED IN LIGHT
1997 THE EARLY POETRY OF JARASLAV SEIFERT
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