Poem by Czech poet Vítězslav Nezval, written in 1927
Edison is an epic poem by Czech poet Vítězslav Nezval.[1] It was written in 1927.[2] Later it was included in the poetic book Básně noci (Poems of the Night) which was published in 1930.[3] The main hero of the poem is American inventor Thomas Alva Edison, considered by the author to be a modern genius. Nezval's work is a praise of human activity, technology, and science, but also an expression of anxiety about civilisation.[4] Nezval compares the inventor's work to writing poetry.[5] He points out that every creative work demands much toil and courage.[6] After Edison's death in 1931 Nezval wrote Signál času (Signal of time) which is an elegy. Both poems are written in the same measure, trochaic hexameter. Nezval uses long enumerations,[7] building sophisticated poetical imagery.[8] Nezval's Edison was probably influenced by Guillaume Apollinaire's work, especially the poem Zone, which was translated into Czech by Karel Čapek.[9]
Translations
The poem was translated into English by Ewald Osers. François Kérel, helped by Nezval himself, translated the poem into French.[10] It was also twice translated into Polish, by Kazimierz Andrzej Jaworski and Józef Waczków.
Vítězslav Nezval, Edison. Báseň o pěti zpěvech. Translated from the Czech by Ewald Osers (parallel Czech and English texts), Dvořák, Pelhřimov 2003.
Vítězslav Nezval, Cudowny czarodziej. Wybór i wstęp Jacek Baluch, redakcja Andrzej Piotrowski, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 1969 (in Polish).
