Klicpera, Vaclav Kliment

Klicpera, Václav Kliment 

Born Nov. 23, 1792, in Chlumec; died Sept. 15, 1859, in Prague. Czech dramatist, active in the Czech National Renaissance movement.

Klicpera was the son of a tailor. Between 1846 and 1859 he worked at the Prague Academic Gymnasium, first as a teacher and later as its principal. He wrote both prose works (on themes from his nation’s history) and romantic dramas, including Blanik (1813; published in 1820), Sobeslav (1824; published in 1826), and The Loket Bell (1825). These works show the influence of W. Scott and the tradition of knightly literature. His plays The Miraculous Hat (1817; published in 1820), Four Times a Cuckold (1821), and Something for the Homeland (1829) were the first attempt in Czech literature to create a comedy of manners with contemporaneous material. Close to farce, these plays mock the avidity and false patriotism of the petite bourgeoisie.

WORKS

Spisy, vols. 1–9. Prague, 1962–64.

REFERENCES

Ocherki istorii cheshskoi literatury XIX-XX vekov. Moscow, 1963. Pages 44–45.
Justl, V. Václav Kliment Klicpera. Prague, 1960. (Contains bibliography.)

A. P. SOLOV’EVA