Authors
Pavel KOHOUT
Writer and playwright Pavel Kohout was born 20th July 1928 in Prague. There have been plenty of opportunities for discussion and even dispute about his life and writings, even about his personality. He worked as a cultural attaché in Moscow from 1949 to 1950, was editor-in-chief of the Czech satirical magazine Porcupine (Dikobraz; 1951-1952), editor of the magazine Czech Soldier (Český voják) and editor and analyst of the Czechoslovak TV Company (to 1956). Kohout has worked as a freelance writer since 1961.
To follow the development of Kohout's career is illuminating. Starting with simple pro-Communist poems and verses, he eventually wrote several contemporary plays such as ‘September Nights – Zářijové noci’ 1955 and became one of intellectual leaders of the Prague Spring of 1968 and later a dissident and founding member of Charter 77. The communist regime expelled him in 1978. After November 1989, Kohout returned to Czechoslovakia and now divides his time between Vienna and Prague. A successful playwright, he still writes prose. One of the best sources about Kohout's life and aspects of his work is Pavel Kosatík's book ‘The Kohout Phenomenon’, published in 2002 by the Czech publishing house Paseka. Kohout's plays have always been noted for their depiction of society and for clever dialogues which have been popular with audiences. In the early 1960s, he became famous for elegant adaptations of world-renowned works (Jules Verne's ‘Around the World in 80 Days’, ‘War with the Newts’ Karel Čapek, and Jaroslav Hašek's ‘The Good Soldier Švejk’). Kohout drew his inspiration from dramatic literature (he did two adaptations of Rostand's ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’. The structure of Kohout's play ‘Arthur's Bolero’ was inspired by Arthur Schnitzler's ‘La Ronde’). Recently, Kohout has become rather bitter as Czech theatre houses have refused to stage his latest plays.
(jk)
This profile was last updated on 1st March 2007
Deutsch 
Pavel KOHOUT, Deutsch.doc
En français Pavel KOHOUT, En français.doc
