- Rudolf Těsnohlídek
Rudolf Těsnohlídek (
7 June ,1882 inČáslav -12 January ,1928 inBrno , suicide) was a Czech writer, journalist and translator. He also used thepseudonym "Arnošt Bellis".Life
He attended secondary school (gymnasium) in
Hradec Králové and later started to studyphilosophy inPrague but didn't finish.Starting in 1908, he was a contributor to the Brno newspaper "
Lidové Noviny ". His serialized novella (daily comic) "Liška Bystrouška" ("Vixen Sharp Ears"), based on a series of drawings byStanislav Lolek , appeared in the "Lidové Noviny" 7 April to 23 June 1920, and was published as a book in 1921. This optimistic tale, somewhere between a children's fairy tale and adult satire, was used as the basis forLeoš Janáček 'sopera "The Cunning Little Vixen " ("Příhody Lišky Bystroušky", 1923).Těsnohlídek's other work reflects more pessimism and alienation than the lighthearted Vixen's tale.
His life was imbued with pessimism, darkness, melancholy and tragedy. He was plagued from childhood by feelings of sadness and social exclusion. In his teens, he watched helplessly as a friend drowned. When he was 21, he married a woman who was fatally ill with tuberculosis. Two months after their wedding, on a holiday in Norway, she shot herself in the heart in front of him. Těsnohlídek was accused of murdering her, and had to endure two trials before being acquitted.Fact|date=July 2008 He returned to Prague where he became a court reporter and wrote gloomy poems. He published "Vixen Sharp Ears", which became enormously popular. After he had met Janáček and discussed plans for an opera based on his book, he married again, but this wife left him. He married a third time. He became interested in exploring the Moravian underground caves, wrote extensively about them, and submitted his drafts for publication but found they had been heavily edited without his knowledge. On 12 January, 1928, he shot himself in the heart, just as his first wife had done. His third wife gassed herself to death on hearing the news.
"Vixen Sharp Ears" was first published in English in 1985, as "The Cunning Little Vixen", with pictures by
Maurice Sendak .Work
"Nénie" (1902) - poetry
References
Bohuš Balajka: "Přehledné dějiny české literatury II." Prague: Fortuna, 2005. ISBN 80-7168-781-2
External links
* [http://www.mzm.cz/mzm/osobnosti/tesnohlidek_rudolf.html Biography]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/hello-darkness-my-old-friend/2008/06/12/1212863841213.html?page=fullpage Article by Ursula Dubosarsky]
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