Patrik Ouředník
Encyclopedia
Patrik Ouředník is a Czech author
and translator, living in France
.
Ouředník spent his youth in Prague. In 1984 he emigrated to France, where he first worked as a chess consultant, then as a librarian. From 1986 to 1998 he served as editor and head of the literature section of the quarterly L'Autre Europe. In 1992 he was instrumental in founding the Free University of Nouallaguet, and he has lectured there since 1995.
Translator from French into Czech (François Rabelais
, Alfred Jarry
, Raymond Queneau
, Samuel Beckett
, Henri Michaux
, Boris Vian
, Claude Simon
...) and from Czech into French (Bohumil Hrabal
, Vladimír Holan
, Jan Skácel
, Miroslav Holub
, Jiří Gruša
, Ivan Wernisch
...), Ouředník is also the author of various literary texts. His production is characterized by an interest in curious and surprising aspects of life, by an experimentation in exploring language, literary forms and genres, and by a constant attention to ludic aspects. Words, events, social stereotypes, readings, the story itself are continuously mixed up in a lucid, hilarious game of intertextuality as witnessed, for example, in three of his novels translated into English: Europeana. A Brief History of the Twentieth Century, The Opportune Moment, 1855, and Case Closed.
Europeana. A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (Dalkey Archive Press, 2005)
Book of the Year in the Czech Republic (Lidové noviny), Top Shelf in USA (The Village Voice), translated into 23 languages (2010), Europeana is a mordant deconstruction of historical memory where all references—events, slogans, persons, dates—accumulate and then return, vague and vacillating, to alienate the reader.
The Opportune Moment, 1855 (Dalkey Archive Press, to be published in March 2011).
Book of the Year in Italy (La Stampa). In 1855, a group of anarchists, communists, and libertarians leaves Europe for Brazil in order to establish the colony Fraternitas, based on the principles of community and egalitarianism. The project collapses, as does the linear narration.
Case Closed (Dalkey Archive Press, 2010)
Seemingly a detective novel, set in a dreamlike post-Communist Prague. Revolving around a fistful of harmless, humorous retirees who sit and chat on the local park bench, the plot is replete with mysterious hints, crippled language, unsolved crimes, at least one suspicious suicide, and a bizarre rape. Who, where, when, how, why?
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and translator, living in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Ouředník spent his youth in Prague. In 1984 he emigrated to France, where he first worked as a chess consultant, then as a librarian. From 1986 to 1998 he served as editor and head of the literature section of the quarterly L'Autre Europe. In 1992 he was instrumental in founding the Free University of Nouallaguet, and he has lectured there since 1995.
Translator from French into Czech (François Rabelais
François Rabelais
François Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has historically been regarded as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs...
, Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
, Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:Born in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Queneau was the only child of Auguste Queneau and Joséphine Mignot...
, Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
, Henri Michaux
Henri Michaux
Henri Michaux was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian-born poet, writer, and painter who wrote in French. He later took French citizenship. Michaux is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, and his body of work includes poetry, travelogues, and art criticism...
, Boris Vian
Boris Vian
Boris Vian was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their...
, Claude Simon
Claude Simon
Claude Simon was a French novelist and the 1985 Nobel Laureate in Literature. He was born in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and died in Paris, France....
...) and from Czech into French (Bohumil Hrabal
Bohumil Hrabal
Bohumil Hrabal was a Czech writer, regarded as one of the best writers of the 20th century.- Life and work :...
, Vladimír Holan
Vladimír Holan
Vladimír Holan was a Czech poet famous for employing obscure language, dark topics and pessimist views in his poems. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in the late 1960s. He was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia....
, Jan Skácel
Jan Skácel
Jan Skácel was a Czech poet of Moravian origin, widely acclaimed as one of the best poets who had been writing in Czech....
, Miroslav Holub
Miroslav Holub
Miroslav Holub was a Czech poet and immunologist.Miroslav 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...
, Jiří Gruša
Jirí Gruša
Jiří Gruša was a Czech poet, novelist, translator, diplomat and politician.-Biography:...
, Ivan Wernisch
Ivan Wernisch
Ivan Wernisch is a Czech poet, editor and a collage artist. He studied Ceramics Secondary school in Carlsbad and has since done many jobs, mostly manual. In 1961, after publishing his debut poetry book, he quickly established himself as one of the best and most loved writers of his generation...
...), Ouředník is also the author of various literary texts. His production is characterized by an interest in curious and surprising aspects of life, by an experimentation in exploring language, literary forms and genres, and by a constant attention to ludic aspects. Words, events, social stereotypes, readings, the story itself are continuously mixed up in a lucid, hilarious game of intertextuality as witnessed, for example, in three of his novels translated into English: Europeana. A Brief History of the Twentieth Century, The Opportune Moment, 1855, and Case Closed.
Europeana. A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (Dalkey Archive Press, 2005)
Book of the Year in the Czech Republic (Lidové noviny), Top Shelf in USA (The Village Voice), translated into 23 languages (2010), Europeana is a mordant deconstruction of historical memory where all references—events, slogans, persons, dates—accumulate and then return, vague and vacillating, to alienate the reader.
The Opportune Moment, 1855 (Dalkey Archive Press, to be published in March 2011).
Book of the Year in Italy (La Stampa). In 1855, a group of anarchists, communists, and libertarians leaves Europe for Brazil in order to establish the colony Fraternitas, based on the principles of community and egalitarianism. The project collapses, as does the linear narration.
Case Closed (Dalkey Archive Press, 2010)
Seemingly a detective novel, set in a dreamlike post-Communist Prague. Revolving around a fistful of harmless, humorous retirees who sit and chat on the local park bench, the plot is replete with mysterious hints, crippled language, unsolved crimes, at least one suspicious suicide, and a bizarre rape. Who, where, when, how, why?
Works
- The Rough-book of the Czech Language: A Dictionary of Unconventional Czech (Šmírbuch jazyka českého. Slovník nekonvenční češtiny), Paris, 1988.
- Or (Anebo), Prague, 1992.
- The Extraordinary Adventures of Prince Chicory... (O princi Čekankovi, jak putoval za princeznou...), Prague, 1993.
- And There Is No New Thing under the Sun: A Dictionary of Biblical and Parabiblical Expressions (Aniž jest co nového pod sluncem. Slova, rčení a úsloví biblického původu), Prague, 1994.
- Year Twenty-Four (Rok čtyřiadvacet), Prague,1995.
- If I Don’t Say So (Neřkuli), Prague, 1996.
- In Search of Lost Language (Hledání ztraceného jazyka), Prague, 1997.
- 112 Ways to Roll a Barrel of Oil (Des 112 façons desquelles on peut faire rouler un tonneau à huile) (Limoges 1999, with Jiří Pelán).
- The Key Is at the Bar (Klíč je ve výčepu), Prague, 2000.
- 55 Types of Laced Boots to Keep Your Feet Warm in Winter (Des 55 espèces de brodequines dont on peut s'entourer les pieds en hiver) (Limoges 2001, with Jiří Pelán).
- Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (Europeana: Stručné dějiny dvacátého věku), Prague, 2001.
- House of a Barefoot Man (Dům bosého) Prague, 2004.
- The Opportune Moment, 1855 (Příhodná chvíle, 1855), Prague, 2006.
- Case Closed (Ad acta), Prague, 2006.
- It Was Utopus Who Made Me an Island (Utopus to byl, kdo učinil mě ostrovem), Prague 2010.