Jiří Gruša was a
Czech poet, novelist, translator, diplomat and politician.
[2]
(10 November 1938,
Pardubice – 28 October 2011,
Hannover[1] )
Biography
Gruša was born in
Pardubice,
Bohemia (
Czech Republic), and later moved to Prague.
[2] He graduated from the Philosophical Faculty of
Charles University in Prague. He worked for periodicals
Tvář,
Sešity and
Nové knihy.
He started coming under the scrutiny of the communist regime of then
Czechoslovakia in 1969 because of his writings.
[3] He was banned from publishing and had to work in a construction cooperative. He took part in distribution of
samizdat
literature. He was arrested in 1974 for "the crime of initiating
disorder" after distributing nineteen copies of his first novel,
Dotazník (
The Questionnaire) and voicing his intention to have it published in Switzerland.
[4] After world-wide protest, he was released after two months.
[4] He later became a signer of the human rights document,
Charter 77.
[2] In 1981 his citizenship was revoked,
[4] and between 1982 and 1990 he lived in the
Federal Republic of Germany.
[3]
In 1990 conditions in Czechoslovakia became more favorable and he
returned to work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1991–1997, he
served as an ambassador to Germany. Later, he joined the minority
government of
Václav Klaus as a Minister of Education. The government lost support of the opposition parties and President
Václav Havel orchestrated establishment of a new caretaker government. Even though Gruša was a non-party minister, he was replaced by
Jan Sokol. He served as an ambassador to
Austria until 2004.
[5] From 2005 to 2009 he was Director of the
Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. From 2004 to 2009 he was the President of
International PEN.
[5]
Gruša participated in standardisation of the term "Tschechien" as the official name of the
Czech Republic in German language. See
Name of the Czech Republic for overview.
Gruša died at the age of 72 on 28 October 2011 during a heart operation in Germany.
Václav Havel
wrote (before his own death a month and a half later on December 18)
that Gruša was "one of a few close people whom I deeply respected and
who have left this world recently."
[6]
Awards and honors
Works
English translated
- Franz Kafka of Prague, Trans. Eric Mossbacker.
- The Questionnaire, Trans. Peter Kussi.
Czech language
- Umění stárnout [The Art of Aging]
- Gebrauchsanweisung fur Tschechien und Prag [Instruction Manual for the Czech Republic and Prague]
- Grusas Wacht am Rhein aneb Putovni ghetto [The Watch on the Rhein]
-
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