author
Johannes Urzidil
1896–1970
A Prague-born writer of the German-speaking world, he turned memory, exile, and the layered life of Central Europe into vivid fiction and essays. His work is often praised for its warmth, intelligence, and deep attachment to the city he left behind.
1 Audiobook
Sturz der Verdammten: Gedichte
by Johannes Urzidil
About the author
Born in Prague on February 3, 1896, Johannes Urzidil became an important voice in German-language literature from Bohemia. He studied at the German University in Prague and moved in the rich literary world around figures such as Franz Kafka and Max Brod.
After the Nazi occupation in 1939, he fled Czechoslovakia, first to England and then to the United States. Exile became a defining part of his life and writing, and many of his books return to Prague with a mixture of affection, irony, and loss.
Urzidil wrote fiction, poetry, essays, and cultural history, and he is remembered as a major representative of Prague German literature. He died in Rome on November 2, 1970, but his work continues to speak to readers interested in memory, displacement, and the many cultures that once met in Central Europe.