Word: seifert
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Before he was named this year's Nobel laureate in literature, Czech Poet Jaroslav Seifert, 83, was little known outside his homeland. For Czechs, it was a recognition that was overdue: he has long been revered for his insistence on artistic freedom. Even during the bleak days after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces, Seifert spoke out forcefully against the policies of the new Soviet-installed regime. For the next decade his writings were repressed, although his poetry is essentially unpolitical. Communist authorities finally relented when they realized that Seifert's poems were circulating widely...
When the Swedish Academy announced the literature prize in October, Seifert was in the hospital suffering from diabetes and a heart ailment. He has now returned home, but can move about only with the aid of a metal crutch. Too frail to travel, he will be represented at this week's Nobel ceremonies by Son Jaroslav and Daughter Jana. Although he is usually unwilling to be interviewed by Western journalists, Seifert received TIME Editor in Chief Henry Grunwald and Eastern Europe Correspondent John Moody in his comfortable, slightly threadbare second-floor apartment in Prague. The 90-min. interview took...
...call Jaroslav Seifert, the dominant figure in Czechoslovakia's national literature and culture, "obscure" [BOOKS, Oct. 22]? And why is the decision of the Swedish Academy, which awarded him the Nobel Prize for Literature, "mysterious"? Seifert is one of the greatest poets of this century...
...Seifert's determination to pursue his writing is heroic considering the chilling events he has lived through. Unfortunately, his poetry is scarcely better than what you find on greeting cards...
...those who believe that Seifert "seems a rather modest and provincial talent to become so celebrated," I suggest they read him first (they may have to learn Czech) and then form their judgment. Seifert needs time and attention. He deserves the prize...