Rakous, Vojt?ch
RAKOUS, VOJT?CH
RAKOUS, VOJT?CH (pseudonym of Vojt?ch Oesterreicher ; 1862–1935), Czech writer. Born in Velký Brázdim, Bohemia, Rakous was a prominent representative of the Czech-Jewish assimilation movement in literature. He published some short stories in a serious vein, such as Doma ("At Home," 1897) and Na rozcestí ("At the Crossroads," 1914). Nevertheless, he is best remembered as a writer with a sense of comedy or the tragicomic, as in the sketch Strýc Václav ("Uncle Wenceslas"). In the four volumes of humorous tales entitled Vojkovi?tí a p?espolní ("Those from Vojkovice and Those from Elsewhere," 1910), Rakous vividly portrayed Jewish life in the Czech villages. The volume featuring the schlemiel, Modche, and his domineering wife, Rézi, became a popular classic and was later dramatized and filmed. The stories also shed important light on Jewish-Christian relations in Czech villages at the turn of the 19th century. Výbor ze spis? 1–3 ("Selected Works") appeared in 1925, other editions continuously.
bibliography:
O. Donath, Židé a židovství v ?eské literatu?e (1930); F. Kafka, in: Židovská ro?enka (1967/68), 106–15. add. bibliography: ?eskožidovští spisovatelé v literatu?e 20. století (2000); H. Krej?ová, "P?íb?hy plné vášní a rámusu," in: Židovská ro?enka (1990–91), 35–39; Lexikon ?eské literatury, 3/ii (2000); A. Mikulášek et al., Literatura s hv?zdou Davidovou, 1 (1998); M. Otruba, "P?edmluva," in: V. Rakous, Vojkovi?tí a p?espolní (1986); Slovník ?eských spisovatel? (2000).
[Avigdor Dagan /
Milos Pojar (2nd ed.)]