Jan Zábrana

Who was Jan Zábrana?

Jan Zábrana was a Czech writer and translator.

His parents were teachers and politicians persecuted by the communist regime after the communist revolution of 1948: his mother, a member of the regional parliament, was arrested and sentenced to 18 years in prison; his father, mayor of Humpolec before the communist coup, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison. All property of the Zábrana family was confiscated when Zábrana was nineteen. University studies were prohibited to non-communists, so he tried to study in a Catholic school for priests, but this was prohibited, also.

From 1952-53, Zábrana worked in the Tatra Smíchov tram factory in Prague, and the following year in an enamel factory in Radotín, and wrote poems and short stories. At this time he met many writers, both his elders and his peers Václav Havel, Josef Škvorecký, Bohumil Hrabal. From 1954, he worked full-time as a translator and became one of the best Czech translators of 20th century.