Autographed and inscribed, excerpted first edition title page for the creative genius avant garde poet's first book, "Koraby v Hlubokych Ocich" (1924), or "Ships in Deep Eyes", Prague, June 18, 1931.
Vilém
Szpyk (1902-1939) tragic Dadist Avant Garde Poet, Novelist, Translator and Editor
Szpyk
grew up in Domazlice, his father was from Galacia in Poland and unemployed
tiler by trade. He was fortunate under those circumstances to study law at Charles
University in Prague. Upon graduation he
was employed as an editor of business journals, he also was a translator of
French fiction to Czech and in demand by the leading publishers in Prague. His
first book, self published, "Ships in Deep Eyes" only 36 pages long was
published in 1924. A booklet of twenty
poems about night, love, natural phenomena and social mores he described as
"Poetic Photosynthesis"; uniting photo montages with poetry. The creation of "photosynthesis" with
his poetry was something new and different and the literary critics of the time
found difficult to accept. Additional
books of his prose combined with "photosynthesis", "Swan Song"(1930),
"Hatchery"(1933-34), "Pain of Beautiful Hope" (1934), "High
Voltage" (1947) and "Peasant Madonna" (1938) followed. His early death at the age of 37 from
tuberculosis ended a most interesting poetic career.
In
the last few years there has been a renaissance for Szpyk in the Czech Republic
and his works are being re-examined for their originality and
significance. New articles have been
published in magazines regarding his works, especially "Ships in Deep
Eyes".
Rare and important!
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