Petr Mikeš (August 19, 1948 Zlín, Czechoslovakia – February 8, 2016 Benešov, Czech Republic) was a Czech poet, translator, and editor. In the 1970s and 1980s he took part in the samizdat edition Texty přátel (Texts of Friends). From 1993–1997 he was the influential editor-in-chief of the Moravian publishing house Votobia, and from 2000–2004 at the Periplum publishing house (and co-founder: he took its name from a line by Ezra Pound). He was a significant translator of Ezra Pound into Czech (he translated four generations of the Pound family into Czech: Homer Pound, Ezra Pound, Mary de Rachewiltz, and Patrizia de Rachewiltz). He translated members of Pound's "circle", including Basil Bunting, T.E. Hulme, and James Joyce, and even wrote a screenplay for a biopic on the life of Ezra Pound, Solitary Volcano (unproduced).
Petr Mikeš was born in 1948 in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, later the family moved to Olomouc, where he grew up and maintained the family home (the “old house” of his poetry, where he took in many an interesting border) until his death. He studied library science in Brno, where he befriended poets Jaroslav Erik Frič and Jiří Kuběna and philosopher Josef Šafařík, and English and Russian at Palacký University Olomouc; he left the university, mostly for political reasons. Instead, he became the night watchman of the theatre in Olomouc-Hodolany, where he read deeply and also wrote and translated, and finished studies in library science, eventually becoming a librarian. He converted to Catholicism in 1972, which had a profound influence on his poetic work. In the 1980s he translated textbooks for Palacký University, and was the Czech correspondent for Paideuma, a journal dedicated to Pound studies published by the National Poetry Foundation (USA). At this time some of his poems were translated into Polish by Leszek Engelking and into German by Otto František Babler, an iconic translator into Czech, whom Mikeš knew personally. After the Velvet Revolution, he was awarded a USIS scholarship to the US in 1990, where he was a guest of the National Poetry Foundation at the University of Maine at Orono, and the Iowa Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa in Ames. There he befriended the American poet Kerry Shawn Keys and met Czech poet in exile Bronislava Volková. His poetry appeared in English, translated by Kerry Shawn Keys; and officially in Polish, translated by Leszek Engelking, a close friend. In the early 1990s, he was invited to become editor-in-chief of Votobia Publishers in Olomouc, which became the largest publishing house in Moravia during his tenure. In 1994, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the University of Maine in Orono, where he involved himself more deeply in Ezra Pound scholarship and gathered material for his anthology of New England poets, meeting many of the poets personally. He became good friends especially with Burton Hatlen, Sylvester Pollet, and Carroll F. Terrell, whose works he later translated in more breadth. His friendship with Matthew Sweney, whom he met in Orono in 1990, was strengthened at this time; Mikeš eventually invited Sweney to work for Votobia in Olomouc, and Sweney became Mikeš's 'court translator' into English. Contacts with the British Council brought him in touch with poets Richard Caddel and Stephen Watts, with whom he became friends, translating their verse in Czech. After leaving Votobia in 1998, he co-founded the publishing house Periplum, which specialised in poetry, philosophy and political science. In addition to English, he also translated from Slovak, Polish, and Russian. He was married three times: to photographer Milena Valušková, sister of his friend and fellow poet Rostislav Valušek; to translator Iveta Mikešová, with whom he had two children, Jan and Tereza; and to the novelist and editor Alena Jakoubková. He was a professional translator, covering fields such as science and economics. In terms of his literary translations, his contributions of English language poetry and Pound studies into Czech are major. He also translated mystery novels, and non-fiction on the atrocities of fascism. He is known for his “quiet, thoughtful poetry”,[1] which could probably be best described as minimalist – his translation of Basil Bunting's Briggflatts into sparse Czech is masterful – with a good dose of Catholicism, and the haiku form suited him especially well.
Works
Samizdat poetry collections
Petr Mikeš was one of the writers-editors-typists of the important Moravian samizdat edition Texty přátel (others included poets Jaroslav Erik Frič, Rostislav Valušek, Eduard Zacha).[2] He donated his archive of Texty přátel to the samizdat library Libri prohibiti in Prague.
Oslovení (Salutations, 1973) – debut in the samizdat edition Texty přátel
Křehčí než rosa na podzim (More Fragile Than Dew in Autumn, 1976)
Drť světla (The Pulp of Light, 1977)
Básně v próze (Poetry in Prose, 1977)
Práh bolesti (Pain Threshold, 1978)
Triptych (1980)
Natalet (1980)
Stříbrný pták ve žluté skříni (Silver Bird in a Yellow Cabinet, 1981)
Stejný svět (Same World, 1982)
Básně 1973–1982 (Poems 1973–1982, 1986)
Dům je tam (Home is There, 1989)
Book collections of samizdat texts
Dům je tam (Home is There, Votobia, 1993; reprint of the 1989 samizdat edition; Polish translation: Dom jest tam by Leszek Engelking, 1991)
Básně v próze (Poetry in Prose, Votobia, 1996)
Stříbrný pták ve žluté skříni (Silver Bird in a Yellow Cabinet, Votobia, 1997; reprint of the 1981 samizdat edition)
Jediné touhy zpěv (Only the Desire for Song, 1998)
Post-1989 poetry collections
Paměť rány (1990; English edition: Memory of the Wound, 1994)
Jen slova / Just words (2005) – bilingual Czech edition with some English translation, and some haiku
Starý dům. Haiku a jiné básně (Old House. Haiku and other poems, 2008)
Benátské iluminace / Venetian Illuminations (poetry in prose, 2011)
Dvojdomí (2012)
Memoirs
Když na tebe sáhne smrt...vzpomínky a portéty (When You're at Death's Door... Memories and portraits, 2015)
Translations (selection)
Allen, Paul: Katyň: stalinský masakr a triumf pravdy (Katyń: Stalin's Massacre and the Triumph of Truth, 2015)
Leyson, Leon: Chlapec na dřevěné bedně: jak se nemožné stalo možným...na Schindlerově seznamu (The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible... on Schindler's List, 2013)
Mikeš, Petr (ed.): Vítr z Narragansettu.Poezie Nové Anglie (The Wind from Narragansett. Poetry of New England, 2002)
Rachewiltz, Mary de: Rodokmen. Ed. Jakub Guziur ("Family Tree" - from the collections Family Tree, Whose World?, For the Wrong Reason and manuscripts, additional translators Jakub Guziur and Anna Kareninová, 2011)
Rachewiltz, Patrizia de: Můj Tchaj-šan (Mi Taishan, 2010)
Rachewiltz, Patrizia de: Drazí přátelé (Dear Friends, 2015)
Rushdie, Salman: Zem pod jejíma nohama (The Ground Beneath Her Feet, translated by Pavel Dominik, P.M. translated the lyrics, 2001)
Shuker, Karl: Záhady planety Země (Mysteries of Planet Earth, 2000)
Terrell, Carroll F.: Vzpomínky na indiánskou řeku (Growing Up Kennebec, 2002)
Watts, Stephen: Gramsci & Caruso (2003)
Sources
Kolář, Bohumír. Haná v poezii. Olomouc: Literární klub Olomouc, 2008. ISBN978-80-86636-26-9
Martínková-Racková, Simona and Jitka Srbová, Michaela Šmejkalová, Jan Šulc. Antologie české poezie. II. díl (1986–2006). Prague: Dybbuk, 2007. ISBN978-80-86862-30-9
Volková, Bronislava and Clarice Cloutier. Up the Devil's Back/Po hřbetě ďábla. A Bilingual Anthology of 20th Century Czech Poetry. Bloomington IN: Slavica, 2008. ISBN978-0-89357-362-1
References
^Bronislava Volková and Clarice Cloutier. Up the Devil's Back/Po hřbetě ďábla. A Bilingual Anthology of 20th Century Czech Poetry. Bloomington IN: Slavica, 2008, p. 8.
^Burian, Václav and Josef Galík, Lubomír Machala, Martin Podivinský, Jan Schneider. Česká a slovenská literatura v exilu a samizdatu. Olomouc: Hanacké noviny, 1991, p. 13.
petr, mikeš, august, 1948, zlín, czechoslovakia, february, 2016, benešov, czech, republic, czech, poet, translator, editor, 1970s, 1980s, took, part, samizdat, edition, texty, přátel, texts, friends, from, 1993, 1997, influential, editor, chief, moravian, publ. Petr Mikes August 19 1948 Zlin Czechoslovakia February 8 2016 Benesov Czech Republic was a Czech poet translator and editor In the 1970s and 1980s he took part in the samizdat edition Texty pratel Texts of Friends From 1993 1997 he was the influential editor in chief of the Moravian publishing house Votobia and from 2000 2004 at the Periplum publishing house and co founder he took its name from a line by Ezra Pound He was a significant translator of Ezra Pound into Czech he translated four generations of the Pound family into Czech Homer Pound Ezra Pound Mary de Rachewiltz and Patrizia de Rachewiltz He translated members of Pound s circle including Basil Bunting T E Hulme and James Joyce and even wrote a screenplay for a biopic on the life of Ezra Pound Solitary Volcano unproduced Petr MikesPetr MikesBornAugust 19 1948Zlin CzechoslovakiaDiedFebruary 8 2016 2016 02 08 aged 67 Pen nameJan Navratil Petr PistoriusOccupationPoet translator editorChildren2 Contents 1 Life 2 Works 2 1 Samizdat poetry collections 2 2 Book collections of samizdat texts 2 3 Post 1989 poetry collections 2 4 Memoirs 3 Translations selection 4 Sources 5 References 6 External linksLife EditPetr Mikes was born in 1948 in Zlin Czechoslovakia later the family moved to Olomouc where he grew up and maintained the family home the old house of his poetry where he took in many an interesting border until his death He studied library science in Brno where he befriended poets Jaroslav Erik Fric and Jiri Kubena and philosopher Josef Safarik and English and Russian at Palacky University Olomouc he left the university mostly for political reasons Instead he became the night watchman of the theatre in Olomouc Hodolany where he read deeply and also wrote and translated and finished studies in library science eventually becoming a librarian He converted to Catholicism in 1972 which had a profound influence on his poetic work In the 1980s he translated textbooks for Palacky University and was the Czech correspondent for Paideuma a journal dedicated to Pound studies published by the National Poetry Foundation USA At this time some of his poems were translated into Polish by Leszek Engelking and into German by Otto Frantisek Babler an iconic translator into Czech whom Mikes knew personally After the Velvet Revolution he was awarded a USIS scholarship to the US in 1990 where he was a guest of the National Poetry Foundation at the University of Maine at Orono and the Iowa Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa in Ames There he befriended the American poet Kerry Shawn Keys and met Czech poet in exile Bronislava Volkova His poetry appeared in English translated by Kerry Shawn Keys and officially in Polish translated by Leszek Engelking a close friend In the early 1990s he was invited to become editor in chief of Votobia Publishers in Olomouc which became the largest publishing house in Moravia during his tenure In 1994 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the University of Maine in Orono where he involved himself more deeply in Ezra Pound scholarship and gathered material for his anthology of New England poets meeting many of the poets personally He became good friends especially with Burton Hatlen Sylvester Pollet and Carroll F Terrell whose works he later translated in more breadth His friendship with Matthew Sweney whom he met in Orono in 1990 was strengthened at this time Mikes eventually invited Sweney to work for Votobia in Olomouc and Sweney became Mikes s court translator into English Contacts with the British Council brought him in touch with poets Richard Caddel and Stephen Watts with whom he became friends translating their verse in Czech After leaving Votobia in 1998 he co founded the publishing house Periplum which specialised in poetry philosophy and political science In addition to English he also translated from Slovak Polish and Russian He was married three times to photographer Milena Valuskova sister of his friend and fellow poet Rostislav Valusek to translator Iveta Mikesova with whom he had two children Jan and Tereza and to the novelist and editor Alena Jakoubkova He was a professional translator covering fields such as science and economics In terms of his literary translations his contributions of English language poetry and Pound studies into Czech are major He also translated mystery novels and non fiction on the atrocities of fascism He is known for his quiet thoughtful poetry 1 which could probably be best described as minimalist his translation of Basil Bunting s Briggflatts into sparse Czech is masterful with a good dose of Catholicism and the haiku form suited him especially well Works EditSamizdat poetry collections Edit Petr Mikes was one of the writers editors typists of the important Moravian samizdat edition Texty pratel others included poets Jaroslav Erik Fric Rostislav Valusek Eduard Zacha 2 He donated his archive of Texty pratel to the samizdat library Libri prohibiti in Prague Osloveni Salutations 1973 debut in the samizdat edition Texty pratel Krehci nez rosa na podzim More Fragile Than Dew in Autumn 1976 Drt svetla The Pulp of Light 1977 Basne v proze Poetry in Prose 1977 Prah bolesti Pain Threshold 1978 Triptych 1980 Natalet 1980 Stribrny ptak ve zlute skrini Silver Bird in a Yellow Cabinet 1981 Stejny svet Same World 1982 Basne 1973 1982 Poems 1973 1982 1986 Dum je tam Home is There 1989 Book collections of samizdat texts Edit Dum je tam Home is There Votobia 1993 reprint of the 1989 samizdat edition Polish translation Dom jest tam by Leszek Engelking 1991 Basne v proze Poetry in Prose Votobia 1996 Stribrny ptak ve zlute skrini Silver Bird in a Yellow Cabinet Votobia 1997 reprint of the 1981 samizdat edition Jedine touhy zpev Only the Desire for Song 1998 Post 1989 poetry collections Edit Pamet rany 1990 English edition Memory of the Wound 1994 Jen slova Just words 2005 bilingual Czech edition with some English translation and some haiku Stary dum Haiku a jine basne Old House Haiku and other poems 2008 Benatske iluminace Venetian Illuminations poetry in prose 2011 Dvojdomi 2012 Memoirs Edit Kdyz na tebe sahne smrt vzpominky a portety When You re at Death s Door Memories and portraits 2015 Translations selection EditAllen Paul Katyn stalinsky masakr a triumf pravdy Katyn Stalin s Massacre and the Triumph of Truth 2015 Bacigalupo Massimo Pound v Rapallu Pound in Rapallo 2013 Blake Adam Demonuv kod The Demon s Code 2015 Borges Jorge Luis Zrcadla jsou zvlastni vec 2 rozhovory Mirrors Are a Strange Thing Two Interviews 1996 Bunting Basil Briggflatts 2000 Caddel Richard Slova straky Magpie Words 2001 Caddel Richard Psani v temnote Writing in the Dark 2007 Davenport Guy Da Vinci s Bicycle in Bacigalupo Pound v Rapallu Delinsky Barbara Stopy po zene Finger Prints 1999 Ellis Bret Easton Min nez nula Less than Zero 1993 as Jan Navratil Gane Mike Rozhovory s Baudrillardem Conversations with Baudrillard 1998 Gordimer Nadine Poutnici The Pick Up 2004 Graham Caroline Smrt v prevleku Death in Disguise 2002 Graham Caroline Psano krvi Written in Blood 2010 Graham Caroline Mrtvi v Badgers Drift The Killings at Badger s Drift 2012 Haining Peter ed Zdi iluzi The Walls of Illusion A Psychedelic Retro 1998 Hulme T E Modlitba za usmev luny basne eseje dokumenty Thomas Ernest Hulme A Prayer to the Moon to Smile Poems Essays Documents 2002 Jin Ha Cekani na Lina Waiting 2001 Joyce James Komorni hudba Chamber Music 2000 Kerouac Jack Pismo zlate vecnosti The Scripture of the Golden Eternity 1996 Kerouac Jack Rozprasene basne Scattered Poems 1995 Keys Kerry Shawn Krajina supu Vulture s Country 1996 Leyson Leon Chlapec na drevene bedne jak se nemozne stalo moznym na Schindlerove seznamu The Boy on the Wooden Box How the Impossible Became Possible on Schindler s List 2013 Mikes Petr ed Vitr z Narragansettu Poezie Nove Anglie The Wind from Narragansett Poetry of New England 2002 Muldoon Paul Wishbone Kost prani 2007 Myrer Anton Posledni Yankee z Bostonu The Last Yankee in Boston 2001 Nabokov Vladimir Promluv pameti navrat k jedne autobiografii Speak Memory translated by Pavel Dominik P M translated the poetry 1998 Polansky Paul Tizive mlceni Svedectvi tech kteri prezili Lety A Difficult Silence Accounts by Lety concentration camp survivors 1998 Polansky Paul Toulavej pes Stray Dog Boxing Poems 1999 Pollet Sylvester Basnik Sylvester Pollet Ed Matthew Sweney The Poet Sylvester Pollet 2011 Pound Ezra Chtel jsem napsat raj I Wanted to Write Paradise 1993 Pound Ezra Mistr tech kteri vedi Master of Those Who Know 1995 vybory z dila na nichz se podilel take jako prekladatel Pound Ezra and Boris de Rachewiltz Kocka a salamandr The Cat and the Salamander 2012 Pound Ezra ed Imagiste Poezie angloamerickych imagistu Des Imagistes 2000 Pound Homer Syn slavneho otce Small Boy The Wisconsin Childhood of Homer L Pound 2011 Rachewiltz Mary de Diskretnosti Discretions 2009 Rachewiltz Mary de Rodokmen Ed Jakub Guziur Family Tree from the collections Family Tree Whose World For the Wrong Reason and manuscripts additional translators Jakub Guziur and Anna Kareninova 2011 Rachewiltz Patrizia de Muj Tchaj san Mi Taishan 2010 Rachewiltz Patrizia de Drazi pratele Dear Friends 2015 Rushdie Salman Zem pod jejima nohama The Ground Beneath Her Feet translated by Pavel Dominik P M translated the lyrics 2001 Shuker Karl Zahady planety Zeme Mysteries of Planet Earth 2000 Terrell Carroll F Vzpominky na indianskou reku Growing Up Kennebec 2002 Watts Stephen Gramsci amp Caruso 2003 Sources EditKolar Bohumir Hana v poezii Olomouc Literarni klub Olomouc 2008 ISBN 978 80 86636 26 9 Martinkova Rackova Simona and Jitka Srbova Michaela Smejkalova Jan Sulc Antologie ceske poezie II dil 1986 2006 Prague Dybbuk 2007 ISBN 978 80 86862 30 9 Volkova Bronislava and Clarice Cloutier Up the Devil s Back Po hrbete dabla A Bilingual Anthology of 20th Century Czech Poetry Bloomington IN Slavica 2008 ISBN 978 0 89357 362 1References Edit Bronislava Volkova and Clarice Cloutier Up the Devil s Back Po hrbete dabla A Bilingual Anthology of 20th Century Czech Poetry Bloomington IN Slavica 2008 p 8 Burian Vaclav and Josef Galik Lubomir Machala Martin Podivinsky Jan Schneider Ceska a slovenska literatura v exilu a samizdatu Olomouc Hanacke noviny 1991 p 13 External links EditPetr Mikes Dictionary of Czech Literature after 1945 publ by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Czech Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Petr Mikes amp oldid 1124287243, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
