Jiří Mucha
{{Short description|Czech writer (1915–1991)}}
{{expand Czech|topic=bio|date=July 2021}}
{{More references|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jiří Mucha
| image = Jiri Mucha.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Jiří Mucha (1915–91)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1915|03|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = Prague
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1991|04|05|1915|03|12|df=y}}
| death_place = Prague
| nationality = Czech
| other_names =
| occupation = Journalist, writer, screenwriter, author
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works = Za mořem, Ugle a cesta na konec světa, Most
}}
Jiří Mucha (12 March 1915 in Prague – 5 April 1991 in Prague) was a Czech journalist, writer, screenwriter, author of autobiographical novels and studies of the works of his father, the painter Alphonse Mucha.
Life
Born in Prague, he was working in Paris as a correspondent for Lidové noviny{{Citation | url = http://www.slovnikceskeliteratury.cz/showContent.jsp?docId=816 | title = Jiří MUCHA | work = www.slovnikceskeliteratury.cz | language = Czech | place = Czech Republic | accessdate=24 October 2014}}. when Nazi Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939. It was at this time he wrote the Czech libretto for Martinů's Field Mass. He returned to Prague briefly for his father's funeral in July of the same year but was able to return to Paris and later joined the newly formed 1st Czechoslovak Division in France in Agde. Following the fall of France, Mucha made his way to the United Kingdom, where he joined the Royal Air Force before becoming a war correspondent for the BBC, where he was known as George Mucha.{{Sfn | Zejda | 1994}} He returned to Prague in 1945. In 1951 he was arrested by the country's Communist government for alleged espionage, and following the demands of the state prosecutor for the death penalty, he was ultimately sentenced to hard labor in the Jáchymov uranium mines. He was released from prison in 1955, allegedly due to the efforts of his wife Geraldine,{{Sfn | Zejda | 1994}} but according to other records, it was due to his agreement to work for the State Security Police (StB).{{Citation | url = http://www.szcpv.szm.com/zvSTB.html | title = Svetové združenie bývalých politických vezňov | trans-title = World Association of Former Political Prisoners |work=www.szcpv.szm.com}}{{Citation | url = http://www.charleslaurence.com/2.16.10_daily_beast.pdf | last = Laurence | first = Charles | title = The daily beast | date = 2010-02-16| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190329042840/http://www.charleslaurence.com/2.16.10_daily_beast.pdf | archive-date = 2019-03-29 }}. In 1989, following the Velvet Revolution, which brought down the communist regime, he became chairman of the Czech PEN club.{{Sfn | Zejda | 1994}} He died of cancer in 1991.
Family
His first wife was Czech composer Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915–40). His second wife was Geraldine Thomson-Mucha (1917–2012), a Scottish born composer who lived in Prague until her death on 12 October 2012. Mucha had two children: a son, John, now President of the Mucha Foundation, with his wife Geraldine, and a daughter, Jarmila Plocková,{{Citation | url = http://www.muchaplockova.com/ | title = Mucha Plockova |work=www.muchaplockova.com}}. with Vlasta Plocková.
Painter Jaroslava Muchová was his sister.
Work
- Za mořem (1932)
- Ugle a cesta na konec světa (1941)
- Most (1943)
- Problémy nadporučíka Knapa (1945) (first published in English as The Problems of Lieutenant Knap)
- Oheň proti ohni (1947)
- Spálená setba (1948)
- Skleněná stěna (1949)
- Válka pokračuje (1949)
- Čím zraje čas (1958)
- Pravděpodobná tvář (1963)
- Černý a bílý New York (1965)
- Alfons Mucha (1965) first published as Kankán se svatozáří (published in English in 1966)
- Studené slunce (1967) (first published in English)
- Marieta v noci (1969)
- Llydova hlava (1987)
- {{Citation | title = Podivné lásky | origyear = 1988 | language = French |trans-title=Au seuil de la nuit | year = 1991}}.
- Věčná zahrada (1994)
Some of Mucha's novels are autobiographical, e.g. {{Citation | title = Most |trans-title=The Bridge}}, {{Citation | title = Studené slunce |trans-title=Cold Sun}} – reflecting his experience of a life in Stalinist prison – and {{Citation | title = Podivné lásky |trans-title=Strange Loves}} – his recollections of his relationship with Czech composer Vítězslava Kaprálová and the life of a Czech émigré community in Paris at the dawn of the World War II.
Notes
Bibliography
- Sarvas, Rostislav. "Hedvabny kanibal." Reflex 4 (1992): 30–34.
- Sleevenotes to Lloydova hlava. Prague: Mata, 1999.
- "Ustavni soud naridil znovu projednat Muchovo dedictvi." Mlada fronta Dnes, 9 November 2005.
- "Valecny denik Jiriho Muchy." Reflex 23 (2004).
- {{Citation | last = Wanatowiczova | first = Krystyna | title = Stara dama strazi pevnost | newspaper = Tyden | edition = online | date = 30 May 2005 | url = http://www.tyden.cz/text.asp?show=text&tid=15726 | accessdate = 4 June 2005}}.
- {{Citation | last = Zejda | first = Radovan | contribution = Jeden ze zapovězených | type = afterword | title = Věčná zahrada | place = Třebíč, Czech Republic | publisher = Arca JiMfa | year = 1994}}.
External links
- {{Citation | url = http://archives.radio-canada.ca/war_conflict/second_world_war/clips/13802/ | place = Radio Canada - an interview with Jiri Mucha | title = Jiri Mucha et l'invasion de la Tchécoslovaquie}}. A rare film document featuring Jiri Mucha.
- {{Citation | url = http://radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/the-social-agent-exposes-czech-writer-jiri-mucha-as-secret-police-agent | place = Radio Prague (Czech Radio International) | title = "The Social Agent" exposes Czech writer Jiří Mucha as secret police agent| date = December 2012 }}.
- {{Citation | url = http://www.radio.cz/en/article/11867 | place = Radio Prague (Czech Radio International) | title = Czechs in History| date = 10 January 2001 }}.
- {{Citation | url = http://www.cfn.cz/osoba/34458-jiri-mucha | contribution = Jiri Mucha | title = Ceske filmove nebe | place = CZ}}, a version of IMDb database.
- {{Citation | url = http://www.muchafoundation.org/ | title = The Mucha Foundation}}.
- {{Citation | url = http://www.muchaplockova.com/story/mucha-family-history/ | title = Mucha family history | publisher = Mucha Plockova}}.
- {{Citation | url = http://www.charleslaurence.com/ | title = Charles Laurence}}.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mucha, Jiri}}
Category:People from the Kingdom of Bohemia
Category:Czechoslovak expatriates in France