Jan Neruda

Jan Nepomuk Neruda (1834 – 1891) was a Czech journalist, writer and poet, one of the most prominent representatives of Czech Realism and a member of "the May school".


Early life

Jan Neruda was born in Prague, son of a small grocer who lived in the Malá Strana (Lesser Quarter) district of Prague. After studying philosophy and philology, he worked as a teacher until 1860, when he became a freelance journalist and writer.

Career

In his work Neruda promoted the idea of rebirth of Czech patriotism. He participated in all the central cultural and political struggles of his generation, and gained a reputation as a sensitive critic.

Neruda was known for his satirical depiction of the petty bourgeois of Prague. His most popular prose work is "Povídky malostranské" (1877, Tales of the Little Side), a collection of short stories. Neruda's stories take the reader to the Lesser Quarter, to its streets and yards, shops, churches, houses, and restaurants.

Death

He died in 1891 and was interred in the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague. After his death, one of the streets in Lesser Quarter (Ostruhová Street well-known from his books), now Nerudova ulice (Neruda Street), was named after him.


Homage

The Chilean poet Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto (Pablo Neruda), who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971, took his pseudonym after Jan Neruda.