Rezác, Václav

Řezáč, Václav 

(pen name of Václav Voňavka). Born May 5, 1901, in Prague; died there June 22, 1956. Czech writer.

Řezáč graduated from a commercial academy in Prague and worked as a civil servant from 1920 to 1940. He began publishing in the 1920’s. His works included verses, theatrical reviews, and short stories. An interest in social problems led to his involvement with proletarian literature. The novels Sowing in the Wind (1935), Impasse (1938), The Black Light (1940), The Witness (1942), and The Boundary (1944), which attest to Řezáč’s interest in crucial ethical problems, established him as a major representative of the Czech psychological novel.

Řezáč’s works written between 1946 and 1956 reflect the enthusiasm for socialist construction felt in Czechoslovakia. Řezáč completed two novels of a planned trilogy: The Offensive (1951; Russian translation, 1953) and The Battle (1954; Russian translation, 1956). He also wrote children’s books, including The Alarm on KováŘska Lane (1934; Russian translation, 1958), as well as essays and feuilletons. He was twice awarded the State Prize of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1951, 1955).

WORKS

Dilo, vols. 1–12. Prague, 1953–61.

REFERENCES

Zaitseva, A. “V. Rzhezach.” In Ocherki istorii cheshskoi literatury XIX—XX vv. Moscow, 1963.
Gö tz, F. V. Řezáč. Prague, 1957.

A. A. ZAITSEVA