Božena Němcová (English spelling)

Czechoslovakian novelist. Born in Vienna to a German father and a Czech mother, she spent five years of her childhood living with her maternal grandmother in the Račibozice valley in the Czech Republic, where she was greatly influenced by her. At the age of 17, she married a customs officer 15 years older than her, and although her husband moved around a number of times due to his post, they eventually settled in Prague. Both the couple were persecuted for being anti-Austrian, and with four children, she suffered poverty and illness, and died relatively young from mental and physical overwork, but she is said to have laid the foundation for exchanges between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which were not yet united at the time.

She began her literary career in 1842 when her husband was transferred to Prague, where she became acquainted with many writers and contributed short stories and poems to various magazines. She was a pioneer among serious Czech female writers, and was on the border between late Czech romanticism and realism, and was also a proponent of sentimental patriotism, socialism, and women's liberation. Her major works during her lifetime include "Fairy Tales and Legends" (1845-1846), "Slovakian Fairy Tales and Legends" (1857-1858), and "A Village in the Mountains" (1856), which she based on her research in various places. Her long work "Grandmother" (1855) has already been published in over 300 editions and is famous in both name and reality as a representative of Czech national literature. Her other short stories, letters, and fragments have been edited and published after her death.

[Shu Iijima]

"Grandmother" translated by Tsutomu Kurisu (Iwanami Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

チェコスロバキアの小説家。ドイツ人の父とチェコ人の母との間にウィーンで生まれたが、少女時代の5年間をチェコのラチボジツェの谷間で、母方の「おばあさん」と暮らし、大きな影響を受けた。17歳のとき、15歳上の税関吏と結婚、夫の任地を転々としたが最後にはプラハに居を定めた。夫婦ともに反オーストリア的という理由で迫害を受け、四児を抱えて貧困と病気に苦しみ、精神的肉体的過労のために比較的若くして死んだが、当時は合体していなかったチェコとスロバキアとの交流の基礎をつくったとされる。

　文学的活動に入ったのは1842年夫がプラハへ転任したときで、多くの作家と知り合い、以後各種の雑誌に短編や詩を寄稿した。チェコでの本格的女流作家の草分けで、チェコの後期ロマンチシズムとリアリズムの境界にあり、いくぶんセンチメンタルな愛国心と社会主義、婦人解放の主唱者でもあった。生前のまとまった作品としては、各地で取材した『おとぎ話と伝説集』（1845～1846）、『スロバキアのおとぎ話と伝説集』（1857～1858）、『山あいの村』（1856）などがあるが、とくに長編『おばあさん』（1855）はすでに三百数十版を重ね、名実ともにチェコの民族文学の代表として有名である。その他の短編や書簡、断片なども死後に編集され公刊されている。

［飯島　周］

『栗栖継訳『おばあさん』（岩波文庫）』

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