Background

Vladimir Holan was born on September 16, 1905, in Prague, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic).

Education

Holan attended gymnasium at Truhlarska Street, Prague, and earned a diploma from it in 1926.

Career

Vladimir Holan gained attention of critics as an extraordinary poet in the 1920s, publishing the collection Triumf smrti (“The Triumph of Death”). The young Holan was hailed as a great poet by Frantisek Xavier Saida, an influential contemporary critic. In the 1930s, during a period when Czech writers seemed divided into two opposing camps—politically active writers addressed social issues while others cultivated what they considered pure literature—Holan passionately dedicated himself to poetry in its purest, most abstract form.

In his discussion of Holan’s position in relation to Czech Surrealism, Alfred French writes in The Poets of Prague: Czech Poetry between the Wars, "The phantoms of phantoms, and abstractions of abstractions, which haunt his verse, have given Holan the reputation of being among the ‘purest’ and most withdrawn of Czech poets."

Thus, during the period between the two world wars, Holan, along with such poets as the 1984 Nobel laureate Jaroslav Seifert, upheld the literary ideals of “poetism”, a movement that viewed poetry as a purely spiritual expression of humankind’s deepest concerns, liberated from any physical or even intellectual constraints.

After World War II, following the installation of a Stalinist government in Prague, Holan attempted to conform to the new style of socialist literature. Although the enthusiasm expressed in his “new” poetry was sincere, he was blacklisted by the government, remaining a proscribed writer until 1963, and living in poverty and isolation. Recognized as a living writer in 1964, Holan was able to publish again, and he returned to his personal style of poetry, producing volumes that brought international critical acclaim, as well as national and international awards. Although seemingly melancholy and enigmatic, almost undecipherable—even stretching the limits of language and thought—Holan’s poetry, critics have written, spans the entire spectrum of human feelings, from sadness to joy, from despair to exhilaration.

Achievements

• Holan's works were translated into more than ten languages, he won several national and international awards. Among his awards were State Prizes, which he won in 1948 and 1965, as well as Award of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers, in 1964. He also received Etna-Taormina Prize in 1967. Holan became the National Artist and Laureate of the State in 1968. He earned Grand Prix International de Poesie in 1973. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in the late 1960s.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The First Testament

    (Although both works are rich with graphic imagery, portra...)

  • Narrative Poems I

    (The poems contain reflections of the war, with strong epi...)

  • Dolour 1967
  • Walls
  • Narrative Poems II 1963
  • Mirroring

Politics

Holan was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia for 5 years from 1945.

Membership

Holan was a member of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers.

Connections

Holan had a daughter, Kateřina, born in 1949. Unfortunately, she died in 1977.

Daughter:

Katerina Holan

References

• The Poets of Prague: Czech Poetry Between the Wars
  1969