Jakub Arbes

Jakub Arbes (1884)

Jakub Arbes (June 12, 1840, Prague (Smíchov) – April 8, 1914) was an influential Czech revolutionary, intellectual and writer. He was a sympathizer of the Májovci literary group and creator of the literary genre called romanetto.

Life and Politics

A native of Smichov in Prague, Arbes excelled as student, gaining tutorship under Jan Neruda, with whom he harboured a life long admiration. He later he studied Philosophy and Literature at Prague Polytechnic and in 1867 began his career in journalism as editor of Vesna Kutnohorská, and from 1868 to 1877 as the chief editor of the National Press. Arbes was also an editor of the seminal and often polemical magazines 'Hlas' (The Voice) and 'Politiks' (Politics). During this time Arbes was persecuted and spent 15 months in the Czech Lipa prison, for leading an outspoken and humanitarian opposition to the ruling Austro-Hungarian Empire (Czechoslovakia declared its independence October 1918). He left Prague soon after, whereupon he was drawn to Paris and the South of France to be part of the ever rapidly expanding intellectual community there. Living in France he became close friends with other "Bohemian Parisiens" such as Paul Alexis, Luděk Marold, Guy de Maupassant, Viktor Oliva, Paul Cezanne, and Karel Vítězslav Mašek as well as the great French writer Émile François Zola.

Writer

Arbes cooperated with many of his contemporaries, Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic, Josef Svatopluk Machar and his mentor Jan Neruda, and was greatly influenced by the British writers Lord Byron and Edgar Allen Poe. He translated much of Poe's literature, notably The Oblong Box. His affection for Poe was so great that he named his only son Edgar, who was raised in his adopted France. Perhaps Arbes' greatest influence came from Emile Zola's theory of the experimental novel. Arbes wrote fiction in which he analysed the plight of the urban working classes and explained the ideas of utopian socialism. Arbes's work is characterised by a sense of moral justice and rationalist, critical thinking. His most important works are his "romanettoes", written in the 1860s and the 1870s. These short novels are predecessors of the modern detective story. They are firmly set within concrete locations, mostly in Prague, and they usually present a gothic mystery, which is subsequently resolved through intellectual effort and rational analysis. Arbes's "romanettoes" introduced technical knowledge and scientific reasoning into modern literature. Arbes used autobiographical elements and anarchic and free-thinking themes in his novels. He was fascinated by creative individuals and political rebels whose intellectual capacities gave them personal independence, but whose non-conformism led them to destruction. His legacy has given him great prominence in Czech culture and modern literature globally, inspiring generations of writers, intellectuals and students. The main square in central Prague is named in his honour.

Works

Romanettos

• Ďábel na skřipci (1865)
• Elegie o černých očích (1865–1867)
• Svatý Xaverius (1873)
• Sivooký démon (1873)
• Zázračná madona (1875)
• Ukřižovaná (1876)
• Newtonův mozek “Newton’s Brain” (1877)
• Akrobati (1878)
• Zborcené harfy tón (1885–1886)
• Lotr Gólo (1886)
• Duhový bod nad hlavou (1889)
• Duhokřídlá Psýché (1891)
• Kandidáti existence
• Etiopská lilie

Novels

• Moderní upíři
• Štrajchpudlíci
• Mesiáš
• Anděl míru
• Kandidáti existence
• Český Paganini
• Záhadné povahy
• Z duševní dílny básníků

Journalism

• Epizody
• Pláč koruny české neboli Nová persekuce

See also

• List of Czech writers

External links

• Works by Jakub Arbes at Project Gutenberg