- Edvard Valenta
Edvard Valenta (
January 22 ,1901 inProstějov –August 21 ,1978 inPrague ) was a Czech journalist and writer.Valenta was born into a family of a medical doctor. After secondary school (finished in 1918) he started to study at a technical university but left soon for the work of journalist. In 1920 Valenta joined the Brno office of the newspaper
Lidové noviny and stayed here until February 1948 when he was purged away by the new communist regime. In December 1948 Valenta was taken into custody and in July 1949 given a short sentence. Although inprisoned for relatively short time his health has deteriorated. Valenta was allowed to publish again during period of cultural liberalisation.Among his most important works are recordings of adventures of
Jan Welzl (together with colleagueBedřich Golombek ), biography of African explorerEmil Holub and psychological novel "Jdi za zeleným světlem". The novel depicts life of an intellectual who, affected by tragic events, decides to start a new life in a small quiet village, in distance from the civilisation. The cruelty ofWorld War II occupation graduates and at the end the main character of the novel is shot by retreating German soldiers.Selected works
* Valenta had recorded stories of
Jan Welzl and they were published in four books during 1930s.
* "Lidé, které jsem potkal cestou", 1939.
* "Druhé housle", 1943. Biography ofEmil Holub .
* "Kouty srdce a světa", 1946.
* "Kvas", 1947.
* "Světem pro nic za nic", 1947. Book of travels inAmericas .
* "Poprvé a naposledy", 1948.
* "Jdi za zeleným světlem", 1956. A psychological portrait of an intellectual during occupation.
* "Nejkrásnější země", 1958.
* "Trám", 1963.
* "Dlouhán v okně", 1965.
* "Život samé psaní", 1970.
* "Žil jsem s miliardářem", 1979. Remembrance on industrialistTomáš Baťa .
* "Žít ještě jednou", 1983. A detective novel.External links
* [http://www.libri.cz/databaze/kdo20/search.php?zp=1&name=Valenta+Edvard Short biography] (in Czech)
* [http://nokturno.net/index.php?stranka=clanky/clanek&clanek=415 Overview of the novel "Jdi za zeleným světlem"] (in Czech)
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