Miroslav Holub
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (September 2010) |
Miroslav Holub | |
---|---|
Born | Plzeň, Czechoslovakia | 13 September 1923
Died | 14 July 1998 Prague, Czech Republic | (aged 74)
Occupation | poet, immunologist |
Language | Czech |
Nationality | Czech |
Alma mater | Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences |
Years active | 1958–96 |
Miroslav Holub (pronounced [mɪrɔslaf ɦɔlʊp]; 13 September 1923 – 14 July 1998) was a Czech poet and immunologist.[1]
Holub's work was heavily influenced by his experiences as an immunologist, writing many poems using his scientific knowledge to poetic effect. His work is almost always unrhymed, so lends itself easily to translation. It has been translated into more than 30 languages and is especially popular in the English-speaking world. Although one of the most internationally well-known Czech poets, his reputation continues to languish at home.
Holub was born in Plzeň. His first book in Czech was Denní služba (1958), which abandoned the somewhat Stalinist bent of poems earlier in the decade (published in magazines).
In English, he was first published in the Observer in 1962, and five years later a Selected Poems appeared in the Penguin Modern European Poets imprint, with an introduction by Al Alvarez and translations by Ian Milner and George Theiner. Holub's work was lauded by many, including Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney (eg there are five poems by Holub in their 1982 anthology The Rattle Bag),[2] and his influence is visible in Hughes' collection Crow (1970).
In addition to poetry, Holub wrote many short essays on various aspects of science, particularly biology and medicine (specifically immunology) and life. A collection of these, titled The Dimension of the Present Moment, is still in print. In the 1960s, he published two books of what he called 'semi-reportage' about extended visits to the United States.
Under the fictitious name "Jaromil," Holub figures prominently in Patricia Hampl's memoir of her Czech heritage, A Romantic Education, first published in 1981 and reissued in 1999 with an Afterword revealing his real name.
The minor planet 7496 Miroslavholub, an outer main belt asteroid, is named in his honour.
Works in translation
- Vanishing Lung Syndrome, trans. David Young and Dana Habova (Oberlin College Press, 1990). ISBN 0-932440-52-5; (Faber and Faber, 1990). ISBN 0-571-14339-3
- Intensive Care: Selected and New Poems, ed. David Young (Oberlin College Press, 1996). ISBN 0-932440-76-2
- The Rampage, trans. David Young, Dana Hábová, Rebekah Bloyd and the author (Faber and Faber 1997) ISBN 0-571-19253-X
- Poems Before and After: Collected English Translations (Bloodaxe Books; 2nd ed. 2006). ISBN 1-85224-747-9
- Shedding Life: Disease, Politics and Other Human Conditions trans. David Young, with assistance from Dana Habova, Todd Morath, Vera Orac, Catarina Vocadlova, and the author (Milkweed Editions, 1997). ISBN 1-57131-217-X
- Supposed to Fly trans. Ewald Osers (Bloodaxe Books; 1996). ISBN 1 85224 274 4
- The Fly trans. Ewald Osers, George Theiner, Ian & Jarmila Milner (Bloodaxe Books; 1987). ISBN 1 85224 018 0
- The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry, edited by J. D. McClatchy, Vintage Books, 1996. ISBN 0-679-74115-1, 9780679741152.
References
- ^ Boxer, Sarah (22 July 1998). "Miroslav Holub Is Dead at 74; Czech Poet and Immunologist (Published 1998)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 December 2020 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Heaney, Seamus; Hughes, Ted (1982). The Rattle Bag. London: Faber and Faber Ltd. pp. 90, 149, 159, 180, 190. ISBN 978-0-571-22583-5.
External links
- New York Times obituary
- Overview of poetic career by Jan Culík and Jiří Holý, in English
- Dogmatika profile of Holub – Darran Anderson
- Miroslav Holub at the complete review – many further links
- Brief talk quoting his poem Ode to joy
- Biography in Czech
- Michal Bauer, 'The Portrayal of the United States of Miroslav Holub’s Writing From the 1960s'
- Articles with short description
- Short description is different from Wikidata
- Articles lacking in-text citations from September 2010
- All articles lacking in-text citations
- Use dmy dates from January 2024
- Pages with Czech IPA
- Articles with FAST identifiers
- Articles with ISNI identifiers
- Articles with VIAF identifiers
- Articles with WorldCat Entities identifiers
- Articles with BIBSYS identifiers
- Articles with BNF identifiers
- Articles with BNFdata identifiers
- Articles with GND identifiers
- Articles with J9U identifiers
- Articles with KBR identifiers
- Articles with LCCN identifiers
- Articles with NKC identifiers
- Articles with NLA identifiers
- Articles with NLG identifiers
- Articles with NTA identifiers
- Articles with PLWABN identifiers
- Articles with PortugalA identifiers
- Articles with CINII identifiers
- Articles with DTBIO identifiers
- Articles with Trove identifiers
- Articles with SNAC-ID identifiers
- Articles with SUDOC identifiers
- 1923 births
- 1998 deaths
- 20th-century Czech poets
- 20th-century male writers
- Czech immunologists
- Czech male poets
- Czech medical writers
- Czechoslovak physicians
- Physicians from Plzeň
- Writers from Plzeň