Karel Jaromír Erben

Karel Jaromír Erben (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkarÉ›l ˈjaromiːr ˈɛrbÉ›n]; 7 November 1811 â€" 21 November 1870) was a Czech historian, poet and writer of the mid-19th century, best known for his collection Kytice (Czech: Bouquet), which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes.

He also wrote Písně národní v Čechách (Folk Songs of Bohemia) which contains 500 songs and Prostonárodní české písně a říkadla (Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes), a five-parted book that brings together most of the Czech folklore.

Biography

He was born on November 7, 1811 in Miletín u Jičína. He went to college in Hradec Králové. Then, in 1831, he went to Prague where he studied philosophy and later law. He started working in the National Museum (Národní muzeum) with František Palacký in 1843. He became editor of a Prague's newspaper in 1848. Two years later, in 1850, he became archives' secretary of the National Museum. He died on November 21, 1870 of tuberculosis.

Selected works

• PísnÄ› národní v ÄŒechách (Folk Songs of Bohemia) (1842â€"1845); contains 500 songs
• Kytice z povÄ›stí národních (A Bouquet of Folk Legends) (1853, expanded edition 1861) (English edition, 2012)
• Sto prostonárodních pohádek a povÄ›stí slovanských v nářečích původních (One Hundred Slavic Folk Tales and Legends in Original Dialects) (1865)
• Vybrané báje a povÄ›sti národní jiných vÄ›tví slovanských (Selection of Folk Tales and Legends from Other Slavic Branches) (1869)
• Prostonárodní české písnÄ› a říkadla (Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes) (1864); 5-part collection of Czech folklore
• ÄŒeské pohádky (Czech Fairy Tales)

References

• Profile by School of Modern Languages and Cultures at University of Glasgow