Birth date

05. 10. 1919  [en] Trenčín

Death date

26. 07. 2006  [en] Praha (Česko)

Fields of interest

literatúra faktu, preklad

Briefly about author

A long term intense interest in the cultures of classical antiquity and the history of their discovery became the domain of Zamarovský's work, which combines the knowledge with aesthetic values. He is one of the most prominent representatives of factual literature and one of the pioneers of its modern form in both Slovak and Czech literature. Right from his first works (Towards the Seven Wonders of the World and From the Secrecy of the Empire of the Hittites) he demonstrates a remarkably wide scope of knowledge of the scholarly issues, an intimate empirical experience with the subject of his interest and at the same time creative invention in its transformation into non-fiction or, in later works, into a new variation on ancient epics (Gilgamesh, Aeneas and Sinuhet). Whilst his first book Towards the Seven Wonders of the World is conceived as a collection of seven historical-travel reports, The Secrets of the Hittite Empire is designed as an exploration of the history, culture and writings of the ancient empire and at the same time a story of the discovery of the Hittite empire, with an accent on the life story of the decipherer of the Hittite language and writing, the Czech scholar Bedřich Hrozný. With regard to the genre of factual literature, Zamarovský had found since his first books a method of writing about scientific fact with a human accent - through the destinies of scholars or discoverers. At the same time he had chosen an approach to material which combined a sufficiency of information with an interpretation attractive to readers, because it is based on the revealing and solving of a scientific problem by using almost a detective's approach to an exciting secret. All the elements of Zamarovský's authorial strategy are present in The Discovery of Troy, with a considerable part of the book being formed by a historical-biographical essay about the discoverer of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann and his superhuman efforts to reach his goal. The history of discovery of another ancient civilisation is the volume In the Beginning There Was Sumeria. He has recorded his knowledge of Egyptology in Their Majesties the Pyramids and later in an encyclopaedically organised dictionary The Gods and Kings of Ancient Egypt. Zamarovský's lifelong interest - both scholarly and eminently personal - has been the research and description of the history and culture of classical antiquity, especially those of ancient Greece, which he sees as "our cultural origin" and the country "where the people realised for the first time in history that it could build its own government". His work The Gods and heroes of Ancient Myths has the character of an encyclopaedic dictionary but is presented in a narrative style. Zamarovský has offered here over eight hundred key words from ancient mythology in alphabetical order. In History Written by Rome he has retold the history of the thousand-year old Roman Empire with an accent on its living historical and cultural heritage. In The Greek Miracle he has described Greek history and culture from the pre-historical time of myths to the loss of independence in the wars with Rome. It is a synthesis of knowledge about the origin of the Greeks, the formation of their statehood, the period of the birth, blossoming and decline of the Greek world. Zamarovský pays special attention to the most valuable contribution of ancient Greece to the treasury of culture - Greek philosophy, sculpture, painting, literature and theatre. His profound interest in the "Greek miracle" is demonstrated by his own interpretation of the historical importance of Greek culture; the reader can appreciate both the author's fascination by his theme and his mastery of language. The thousand-year old history of the ancient Olympic Games against the background of their contemporary tradition was presented in The Revival of Olympus. In addition to almost forty television and film documentaries Zamarovský's work contains literary adaptations of the ancient epics of Aeneas, Gilgamesh and Sinuhet and the book Return to Antiquity with the subtitle In the Footprints of My Own Books. This volume, combining text with illustrations, was suggested by a television series on ancient culture and its aim, in the author's words, is "to show the breadth and depth of the ancient foundations of present European culture and civilisation". This aim is the best characterisation of the value of the works of Vojtech Zamarovský.

Briefly about production

factual literature:
Towards the Seven Wonders of the World (Za siedmimi divmi sveta, 1960, 1985), The Secrets of the Hittite Empire (Za tajomstvom ríše Chetitov, 1963), The Discovery of Troy (Objavenie Tróje, 1962), The Gods and Heroes of Ancient Myths (Bohovia a hrdinovia antických bájí, 1969, revised edition with additions, 1980), In the Beginning There Was Sumeria (Na počiatku bol Sumer, 1966, revised edition with additions, 1984), History Written by Rome (Dejiny písané Rímom, 1971), The Greek Miracle (Grécky zázrak, 1974), Gilgamesh (Gilgameš, 1975), Their Majesties the Pyramids (Ich Veličenstvá pyramídy, 1977), The Rebirth of Olympus (Vzkriesenie Olympie, 1978), The Gods and Kings of Ancient Egypt (Bohovia a králi starého Egypta, 1986), Sinuhet (1987), The Secrets of the Hittite Empire (Návrat do staroveku, 1992), The Collected Works of Vojtech Zamarovský (Súborné dielo Vojtecha Zamarovského, 2000 - 2004) 

translations by the author:
he has translated from English, French and German. His translation of the book by C.W. Ceram Gods, Graves and Scholars (1963,from German) was an important influence on his subsequent direction in the field of non-fiction

works translated into foreign languages:
Towards the Seven Wonders of the World (1965, German), The Secrets of the Hittite Empire (1965, German, Serbo-Croat), The Discovery of Troy (1965, Serbo-Croat), Gilgamesh (1979, German), In the Beginning There Was Sumeria (1981, Ukrainian)

Biography for author

He was born 5 October 1919 in Trenčín. He graduated in Law at the then Slovak University in Bratislava in 1943. He worked in various economic and state organisations in Bratislava and Prague as a specialist in financial and currency policy, lectured at several institutions of higher learning. At the beginning of the Fifties he was expelled from the Communist party and had to find a new existence. From 1953 to 1956 he worked on the editorial staff of the State Publishing House of Fiction, Music and Art in Prague. Since 1956 he has lived as a freelance. At first he translated texts from the field of economics and finance, but later he concentrated on his own literary work. His books were published in millions of copies and translated into fourteen languages. In 1999, the publishing house Perfekt began to bring out Zamarovský's collected works, which number thirteen volumes to date. From 1997 he has lived in Prague. He died on 26 July 2006, at the age of 86. He spen his last years in Soutice, near Prague.

about author

With his books Towards the Seven Wonders of the World, The Secrets of the Hittite Empire and The Discovery of Troy Zamarovský became the real pioneer of a new literary genre. Not only in terms of the thematic direction of his work, which brings together a wide current of factual literature in the world, and attempts to acquaint the contemporary reader with the process and results of scientific research into early human history, but also because he continually seeks and develops the literary method of his work. Behind the foundation and basic contribution of Zamarovský's method I can see great faith in the power and persuasiveness of the discovered and verified fact, as well as the capability to find inspiration, both rational and emotional, in the process of discovering scientific facts, i.e., the process of the scientific discovery of reality.

The writer, literary journalist and researcher Vojtech Zamarovsky is our greatest popularizer of antiquity. His work represents not only our country but he is also the representative of that better cultural Europe anchored in Greece. Each of his works conceals an enormous amount of material, uncountable hours spent both studying the source materials and "on the spot".

Author about himself

I was always interested in history, especially of the ancient world. Also in art, literature, poetry and philosophy. I was lucky in being able to get acquainted with the cultural monuments in the Louvre and other museums before the was, that I could wander a little bit through the world and that through learning several languages I was able to read specialist literature. This meant I was quite well-prepared for my work. What was important was not only studying the books, but gaining personal knowledge of the places through which history had marched and feeling their atmosphere. When solving various problems I tried to consult with the most competent people, whether scholars at Oxford or archaeologists in Mesopotamian Uruk or Egyptian Abusir.

Awards

Four times awarded Prize of the publishing house Mladé letá (1962, 1966, 1969, 1974) Fraňo Kráľ Prize (1977)
Awarded the Freedom of the City of Trenčín (1994)
First Slovak to be awarded the International Prize of Egon Ervin Kisch for his life's work
In 1997 the Club of the Friends of Vojtech Zamarovský was founded in Trenčín, which helped to build the Museum of Classical Antiquity in the city.

Sample

THE RETURN OF GILGAMESH TO OUR TIMES