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Josef Škvorecký

ヨセフ・シュクヴォレツキー

Josef Škvorecký

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1924-09-27 （Náchod, Czechoslovakia）
Died
2012-01-03 （Toronto, Ontario, Canada） age 87
Nationality
Czechoslovak, Canadian
Languages
Czech, English
Residence History
Náchod and Prague, Czechoslovakia → Toronto, Canada

Career

Occupations
Writer, Publisher, Translator, Professor
Active Years
1948-2004
Affiliations
University of Toronto (Department of English and Film), 68 Publishers (co-founder)
Memberships
Royal Society of Canada
Influenced By
Jazz (music), H. P. Lovecraft (writings and prefaces)
Influenced
Czech and Slovak dissident writers (through publishing support), Canadian immigrant literature and Central European literary studies
Nominations
Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature (1982)

Education

Charles University in Prague
Faculty of Arts / Philosophy
Degree: PhD
Period: 1943–1949
Year of Graduation: 1949
Country: Czechoslovakia
Graduated from Faculty of Arts in 1949; received a PhD in philosophy in 1951.
Reálné gymnasium in Náchod
Period: ～1943
Year of Graduation: 1943
Country: Czechoslovakia
Graduated from gymnasium in 1943.

Awards

Neustadt International Prize for Literature
1980
Organization: Neustadt Foundation
Result: 受賞
Governor General's Award for English-language fiction
1984
Work: The Engineer of Human Souls
Organization: Governor General's Awards
Result: 受賞
Czech Republic State Prize for Literature
1999
Organization: Government of the Czech Republic
Result: 受賞
Prize of the Comenius Pangea Foundation 'For Improvement of Human Affairs'
2001
Organization: Comenius Pangea Foundation
Result: 受賞（アンジェイ・ワイダと共同受賞）
Angelus Award
2009
Organization: Angelus Foundation
Result: 受賞
Order of the White Lion
1990
Organization: Office of the President of Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic
Result: 受章
Member of the Order of Canada
1992
Organization: Government of Canada
Result: 受章
Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
1996
Organization: Government of France
Result: 受章
Guggenheim Fellowship
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: フェロー
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Organization: Royal Society of Canada
Result: フェロー

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Cowards

1958 Novel

A novel set around the period before and during World War II focusing on young men and their wartime experiences; contains semi-autobiographical elements.

WarComing-of-ageMoral dilemmas
Adaptations
  • [Film (planned/script)] The Cowards (script/synopsis) / 未制作（ミロス・フォアマンと企画）
Translations
  • Original Czech title: Zbabělci

The Republic of Whores (The Tank Battalion)

1969 Novel

A satirical novel about military life and bureaucracy that critiques Czechoslovak society; English titles include The Republic of Whores and The Tank Battalion.

Military lifeBureaucracyPolitical satire
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Tank Battalion
Translations
  • Original Czech title: Tankový prapor

The Engineer of Human Souls

1977 Novel

A novel exploring the interplay of personal history and memory from the perspective of an émigré writer; translated into English and awarded the Governor General's Award.

ExileMemoryIdentity
Translations
  • English translation title: The Engineer of Human Souls

The Miracle Game

1972 Novel

A novel that treats religious and political themes with humor and tension, dealing with personal faith under a socialist regime.

ReligionPoliticsPersonal dignity

Miss Silver's Past (The Lion Cub)

1969 Novel

A novel about youth and interpersonal relationships; known in English as Miss Silver's Past.

YouthLoveComing-of-age

The Bass Saxophone

1967 Novella

A short novella reflecting the author's youthful jazz experiences, depicting youth from the viewpoint of a saxophonist.

JazzYouthMusic and identity
Adaptations
  • [Television drama] Eine kleine Jazzmusik (TV adaptation)

Bibliography

  • Konec nylonového věku (End of the Nylon Age), 1956 (banned)
  • Zbabělci (The Cowards), 1958
  • Lvíče (Miss Silver's Past), 1969
  • Tankový prapor (The Tank Battalion / The Republic of Whores), 1969
  • Mirákl (The Miracle Game), 1972
  • Příběh inženýra lidských duší (The Engineer of Human Souls), 1977
  • Prima sezóna (The Swell Season), 1975
  • Scherzo capriccioso (Dvořák in Love), 1984
  • Nevěsta z Texasu (The Bride from Texas), 1992
  • Dvě vraždy v mém dvojím životě (Two Murders in My Double Life), 1999
  • Obyčejné źivoty (Ordinary Lives), 2004

Adaptations

  • Film adaptations such as The Tank Battalion; several television series based on his stories (Sins for Father Knox, The Swell Season, Murders for Luck)
  • A film version of Pastor's End was produced but never publicly shown and was locked in Communist archives

Translations of Works

  • Many works translated into English (e.g. The Cowards, The Engineer of Human Souls, The Miracle Game)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Improvisational, open-ended proseRealism with humor and cynicism
Recurring Motifs
Jazz and musicExile and expatriate experienceTotalitarianism and repressionMemory and personal history

Health

  • Cancer
    2011–2012
    Suffered from cancer in later life and died in Toronto in 2012.

Legacy

An internationally respected Czech-Canadian writer and publisher who supported banned Central European literature under communism; an important figure in émigré and Czech dissident literary circles.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Canada (Fellow)

Archives

  • Hoover Institution Archives (Josef Škvorecký papers)
  • Online Archive of California (register of the Josef Škvorecký papers)

In Popular Culture

  • Influence on Czech film and literature with multiple TV and film adaptations of his works
  • Reference point in studies of immigrant literature and jazz culture

Trivia

  • Fled to Canada after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion with his wife Zdena Salivarová.
  • Co-founded 68 Publishers in 1971 to publish banned Czech and Slovak literature.
  • Was an amateur tenor/bass saxophonist in his youth; jazz figures prominently in his work.
  • Reportedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.