The Casting of Bells (Outstanding Authors Series #2) - Softcover

Jaroslav Seifert; Seifert, Jaroslav

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9780930370268: The Casting of Bells (Outstanding Authors Series #2)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0930370260 ISBN 13: 9780930370268

Publisher: The Spirit That Moves Us Press, 1983

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This is Seifert's first collection published in English in the U.S.A. (translated from the Czech). A year later, in 1984, he won the Nobel Prize for literature. A year after that he passed away, but not before The Spirit That Moves Us Press also published his Mozart In Prague: Thirteen Rondels (in Czech and English) and Eight Days: An Elegy for Thomas Masaryk (in Czech and English).

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From the Publisher:

Jaroslav Seifert's work was suppressed by the Czech government until THE CASTING OF BELLS was smuggled out of Prague and published by The Spirit That Moves Us Press, thus giving the non-Czech-speaking members of the Nobel Committee a book of his in English to familiarize themselves with his work. A November 5, 1984 "Talk of the Town" piece in THE NEW YORKER gives the story at length. When the translators couldn't find a large publishing house to produce this book, they approached us. My (Morty Sklar's) first reactions were 1) We had a difficult enough time as a tiny literary publisher without taking on a poet who was little known outside his own country; 2) We were behind schedule for two books; 3) We couldn't afford it at that time. The translators said that their college would guarantee the purchase of 360 copies of the initial printrun of 1,000, which was enough to pay for the printing. I would typeset the book myself. Still, I wanted to put the book out a year from when the translators approached us, but they said that Seifert was very sick, and they were going to visit him soon and wanted to be able to take copies of the books with them because they were afraid the books might be intercepted by the Soviet government if sent by mail.
We published the book in August 1983. On October 12, 1984, a phone call from Stockholm, Sweden awoke me at 7:00 a.m. "Hello," a voice said, "this is Fritz Bookseller to the Crown. We would like to order twenty-five copies of THE CASTING OF BELLS, by Jaroslav Seifert." When I showed surprise, the man said, "Haven't you heard?--your author just won the Nobel Prize for literature."

About the Author:

Jaroslav Seifert was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1901. He worked for years as a journalist and a translator, and authored more than twenty books of poetry. The Casting Of Bells first appeared in Prague in 1967. In 1969, Seifert got himself elected chairman of the Czech Writers Union so that he could speak out for free speech. His books were suppressed as the result of his activities during the ill-fated Prague Spring of 1968.

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