Hálek, Vítezslav

Born Apr. 5, 1835, in the village of Dolinek of the Mĕlník Region; died Oct. 8, 1874, in Prague. Czech writer. Born into a family of peasants.

Hálek graduated from the philosophy department of the University of Prague. His first verses (1854) were romantic ballads based on folk legends. In his collections of verse entitled Evening Songs (1858), many of which are set to the music of B. Smetana and K. Bendl, and In Nature (1872-74), Hálek glorified love, the harmonic beauty of nature, and service to one’s fellowman and to society. Hálek’s works of the 1870’s were devoted to life in the Czech countryside—the ballads of the collection Tales of Our Countryside (1874) and his novellas and short stories, such as In the Mansion and in the Hut (1871). Hálek was the founder together with J. Neruda of the almanac May, the journal Kvĕty (Flowers), and other publications that brought together groups of progressive Czech writers.