„Jsi těžká jak hrom / Poezie…“
‘You’re as Difficult as Hell, Poetry’

Jiří Kolář’s Correspondence with Jindřich Chalupecký, 1941–45

Summary/Abstract: This edition of the correspondence between the poet Jiří Kolář and the critic Jindřich Chalupecký from 1941– 45 attests to the friendly and mainly work-related contacts between the two men. EvenKolář’s first collection of verse, Křestný list (Birth certificate, 1941), drew Chalupecký’s attention, because of its distinctive combination of reality and fantasy, new means of expression, and the plainness of its everyday subject matter, thus coming close to his view of the meaning and aim of modern art, ‘which should be the everyday dreadful and glorious drama of man and reality: the drama of mystery in the face of wonder’ (Chalupecký, ‘Svět, v němž žijeme’ [The world we live in], 1940). Kolář’s next two collections, Ódy a variace (Odes and variations) and Limb a jiné básně (Limbo and other poems), written in 1943–45, are to a certain extent the result of the discussions between the two correspondents about the composition and completion of the individual poems. But the letters also provide much intriguing information about the friendship and joint activity amongst fine artists – particularly other members of the newly founded Skupina 42 (42 Group) and contacts with the young poets Josef Kainar (1917–1971), Ivan Blatný (1919–1990), and Jiřina Hauková (1919–2005), whose works fit in with the artistic programme of Skupina 42.

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