- Egon Hostovský
Egon Hostovský (
April 23 ,1908 ,Hronov –May 7 ,1973 , Montclair), was a Czech writer.He studied at the gymnasium in
Náchod in 1927, thenphilosophy inPrague and at university inVienna in 1929, but did not graduate.He returned to Prague in 1930 and worked as an editor in several publishing houses.
In 1937 Hostovský joined the Czech
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in 1939 he was posted toBrussels , from where, after the occupation of Czechoslovakia onMarch 15 ,1939 , he emigrated toParis . After Paris was occupied in 1940, he fled toPortugal and then, in 1941, travelled to theUnited States of America , where he worked inNew York at the Czechoslovakian consulate.After
World War II he returned to Czechoslovakia and again worked at the Foreign Ministry, but in 1948 he travelled toDenmark , and then toNorway and finally to the United States, where he worked as aCzech language teacher and later as a journalist and editor atRadio Free Europe .After his death a literary prize, the
Egon Hostovsky Prize , was founded in his name by his wife.Works
His work is influenced by his Jewish origin and exile. His literary heroes fight (inner) evil, due to political situation are forced to leave their country and search for lost certainties and roots.
Before his first emigration his work was influenced by
expressionism .* "Zavřené dveře" – 1926
* "Stezka podél cesty" – 1928, psychological novel
* "Gheto v nich" – 1928
* "Danajský dar" – 1930
* "Případ profesora Kornera" – 1932
* "Černá tlupa" – 1933
* "Žhář" – 1935
* "Listy z vyhnanství" – 1941
* "Sedmkrát v hlavní úloze" – 1942, a novel
* "Úkryt" – 1943
* "Cizinec hledá byt" – 1947
* "Nezvěstný" – 1951
* "Půlnoční pacient" (The Midnight Patient) – 1954
* "Dobročinný večírek" – 1957
* "Všeobecné spiknutí" – 1961 partly autobiographical
* "Literární dobrodružství českého spisovatele v cizině" – 1966
* "Tři noci" – 1964
* "Epidemie" – 1972
* "Osvoboditel se vrací" – 1972, dramaLinks
* short biography from the NY Times [http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=310545]
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