Ivan Martin Jirous facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ivan Martin Jirous
Ivan Martin Jirous, Ostrava, December 11, 2007
Born	(1944-09-23)23 September 1944 Humpolec, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Died	9 November 2011(2011-11-09) (aged 67) Prague, Czech Republic
Occupation	poet
Nationality	Czech
Genre	Poetry

Ivan Martin Jirous (born September 23, 1944 – died November 9, 2011) was a Czech poet and a person who spoke out against the government (a dissident). He was best known as the artistic leader of the Czech psychedelic rock band The Plastic People of the Universe. Later, he became a very important person in the Czech "underground" movement during the time when the country was under communist rule.

People often called him Magor, which means "loony" or "fool". This nickname was given to him by another poet, Eugen Brikcius, but it was meant as a positive and friendly title.

Ivan Martin Jirous studied art history. However, he couldn't work in this field in Czechoslovakia because of the communist government. Instead, he joined a group of people who quietly opposed the government. During a time called "normalization," he was put in prison five times for his activities.

Jirous had an important idea called "second culture." He believed that if people simply expressed themselves through art and culture that the government didn't allow, it would eventually weaken the totalitarian system. This idea was similar to what his friend Václav Havel called "living in truth."

In 2006, Jirous won the Jaroslav Seifert Prize. He also won the Tom Stoppard Prize in 1985 for his poem Magor's Swan Song (Czech: Magorovy labutí písně).

Early Life and Education

Ivan Martin Jirous was born in Humpolec, a town in the Vysočina Region. His mother was a teacher, and his father worked in taxes. He finished his high school education in Humpolec.

At first, Jirous wanted to study film. But his cousin, Jiří Padrta, who was an editor, encouraged him to study art history instead. In 1962, Jirous took the entrance exam to study art history at Charles University in Prague. Back then, students had to work for a year before starting their studies. So, Jirous worked as a construction worker and a stoker (someone who tends a fire). He studied at the university from 1963 to 1968. His final project was about how visual art and poetry mixed in the works of poets like Jiří Kolář.

Standing Up to the Government

In 1967, Jirous learned about an "underground" music group called The Primitives Group. Later, in 1969, he became the artistic director and manager of The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU). His first wife, Věra Jirousová, wrote many of the band's early songs.

Because Jirous was against the government, he was not allowed to publish his writings. To avoid being unemployed (which was against the law), he had to work as a night watchman and a gardener.

Jirous was put in prison five times for his underground activities and for organizing artistic events. He was often accused of "disturbing the peace."

The Idea of "Second Culture"

Jirous's most important work was Notes on the Third Czech Musical Revival, which was published in 1975. This writing was like a guide for the non-political Czech underground movement. It said that people should:

• Completely reject any kind of force or control.
• Not follow any forced artistic rules.
• Focus on being true to themselves in life and art.
• Stand strong against the government's control.

Jirous believed that "the goal of the underground is to create a different kind of culture." He said this culture should be free from official ways of sharing information, from what society valued, and from the government's rules. He felt this culture shouldn't try to destroy the government, because that would only help the government.

Organizing Festivals and Facing Arrest

Jirous also put together a collection of underground poems. He organized several "festivals of independent culture." The first one happened in September 1974 and was stopped by the police. Another festival took place in 1976.

In early 1976, Jirous met Václav Havel for the first time. They became good friends and worked together. Jirous is mentioned many times in Havel's book Letters to Olga.

On March 16, 1976, Jirous was arrested again, along with the PPU band members and many other musicians. The government made a big deal out of their trial to scare other people. They even made a TV show that showed the group as troublemakers. The trial happened in September 1976. Jirous was found guilty of "hooliganism" and was put in prison for 18 months.

This trial became very famous and brought together different groups of people who opposed the government. This eventually led to the creation of Charter 77. When Jirous was released from prison in 1977, he signed the Charter. He also organized a third "festival of independent culture" at Václav Havel's country house.

After this, concerts by PPU could only be held as private events because public performances were banned. A month after returning home, Jirous was sent to prison again. This was because he gave a speech about the clear difference between official and unofficial culture. He was in prison from 1977 to 1978. In 1979, he helped create a secret magazine called Vokno and started writing a book about the Plastic People. He also joined the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted, which helped people who were unfairly treated.

Jirous's fourth time in prison was because of his role in making and sharing the Vokno magazine. The trial happened in May 1982. The court decided that the articles in Vokno were against society.

Between 1981 and 1985, Jirous was in prison again, officially for disturbing the peace. During this time, he wrote the poems that later became Magor's Swan Song. This collection won him the Tom Stoppard Award. Between 1985 and 1987, Jirous was watched by the police and had to report to them every day.

His fifth time in prison was because he signed a petition called "Tak dost" (That's Enough). He was in prison from 1988 until November 25, 1989, when the President of the Republic let him go early.

After the Velvet Revolution

After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, which ended communist rule, Jirous became a member of the Czech PEN club, a group for writers. He also protested against police actions at a music festival in 2004.

Until he passed away, Jirous lived in Prague and in a renovated farmhouse in Vysočina. A music festival called Magorovo Vydří took place there every year until 2005. Since 2006, it has been held at Skalákovy mlýn.

Ivan Martin Jirous died suddenly on November 9, 2011. His memorial service was held in Prague, and he was buried in a cemetery near his home in Vysočina.

Family Life

Jirous's first wife was Věra Jirousová (1944–2011), who was also a poet and art historian. They had a son named Tobiáš, who is now an actor and writer.

In 1976, Jirous married for a second time to Juliana Jirousová (1943–2023), a painter. Jirous and Juliana had two daughters, Františka (born 1980) and Marta (born 1981). Jirous spent much of his daughters' childhoods in prison, but he stayed in touch with his family. His daughter Františka is a novelist and leads an organization that wants to turn Jirous's estate into a place to remember poets. Marta has also continued her father's poetry.

Jirous also had a son named Daniel (born 1992) with Daniela Degtěvová. Daniel studies architecture and lives in Prague.

From the 1990s until his death in 2011, Jirous was in a relationship with the songwriter Dáša Vokatá.

Writings and Poetry

Ivan Martin Jirous started writing about art in the 1960s. He wrote about modern art and how music and art were connected. He also contributed to various journals and a secret publication called Vokno.

What Made Magor's Poetry Special

Jirous's poetry had some unique features:

• It mixed different languages and rephrased ideas.
• It showed strong feelings.
• It often had rhymes that weren't perfect.
• It used similar vowel sounds (assonance).
• It sometimes spelled out words using the first letter of each line (acrostic).
• It used humor like sarcasm and irony.
• It was very personal and explored deep questions about life.
• It looked for meaning in himself and in God.
• It had a spiritual side.
• It often spoke directly to specific people or mentioned other writers.

Jirous once said, "I don't think of myself as a poet, but I know that I love poetry."

Poetry Collections (Czech Titles)

• Magorův ranní zpěv, samizdat 1975 – a full collection of his early poems.
• Magorova krabička, samizdat 1979.
• Mládí nevykouřené, samizdat 1975, 1979 and 1980 – these early collections show the influence of another poet, Egon Bondy.
• Magorovo borágo, samizdat 1981.
• Magorova mystická růže, samizdat 1981.
• Magorovy labutí písně, samizdat 1985, London 1989 – This collection was written while Jirous was in prison. He couldn't write things down, so he had to memorize all his poems. This collection includes many important people from that time. It won the Tom Stoppard award.
• Ochranný dohled, samizdat 1985 – continues the themes from Magorovy labutí písně.
• Magorovi ptáci, 1987.
• Magorova summa, 1998.
• Magorova vanitas, 1999.
• Ubíječ labutí, 2001.
• Rattus norvegicus, 2004.
• Popelnice života, 2004.
• Okuje, 2008.
• Rok krysy, 2008.
• Úloža, 2013.
• Magorův noční zpěv, 2013.

Books for Children

• Magor dětem, (1982-1986) samizdat 1986 – poems and fairy tales he wrote in letters to his daughter from prison.

Other Books

• Magorův zápisník, 1999 – a collection of his cultural writings and essays from 1965-1990.
• Magorovy dopisy, 2006 – letters he wrote to his wives Věra and Juliana from various Czech prisons between 1973 and 1985.
• Humpolecký Magor, 2007 – a collection of memories from his classmates and teachers, combined with some of Jirous's writings that had not been published before.

Audio Recordings

• Agon Orchestra & Ivan M. Jirous - Magorova Summa, 2009.
• Ivan Martin Jirous - Pravdivý příběh Plastic People, 2009.
• Ivan Martin Jirous - Magorovy labutí písně, 2011.
• Ivan Martin Jirous - Magorovi ptáci a další příběhy, 2012.

See also

In Spanish: Ivan Martin Jirous para niños