Life story
Jan Neruda was born in 1834 on the Prague Malá Strana. His father was a retired artillery officer and later a tobacconist; the family lived in a house on the street that now bears Neruda's name. This very milieu became the subject matter of his finest prose.
He abandoned his unfinished studies in 1857 and supported himself through teaching and journalism. From 1860 he was editor of the newspaper Čas, then Hlas, and when Hlas merged with Národní listy in 1865, he remained their columnist until his death. He became the leader of the generation of májovcers, which declared itself in the 1858 almanac Máj heir to the legacy of Karel Hynk Mácha.
His poetry collections—Hřbitovní kvítí, Knihy veršů, Písně kosmické, Balady a romance, Prosté motivy—trace a path from pessimism toward reconciled certainty; Zpěvy páteční, considered the pinnacle of his work, was published only after his death. His crowning prose work is Povídky malostranské from 1878.
From 1880 onward he was pursued by illness. He died on 22 August 1891 in Prague. He is buried in the Vyšehrad Cemetery.
Constellation of Life
Important milestones that shaped their journey.