Božena Němcová

Božena Němcová was born in 1820 in Vienna as Barbara Pankel or Barbora Panklová, according to the usual Czech name-giving for women, and she died on the 21st of January in Prague. . She was a czech writer, who wrote the final phase of the Czech National Revival movement. In her childhood she lived near the small town of Ratibořice, where her grandmother Magdalena Novotná played an important part in her life. Němcová would later write her most famous novel with the main character inspired by her grandmother.

When she was 17 years old, she married Josef Němec, fifteen years older than her, who worked as a customs officer and was therefore a state employee. The marriage was arranged by Barbora’s parents and became an unhappy one, as the married couple did not understand each other very well. The couple had four children and suffered from a lack of money. Němcová died in poverty, estranged from her husband.

Božena faced suffering both from her relationships with her family and in her marriage, her mother paying little attention to her and having no time in general for her children. Her husband was also a writer, a journalist, who didn’t support her career choices, especially after her becoming more popular and her writing was more read than her husbands. She started her career by writing in a magazine called Květy.

She was known for her movements, the most popular being the Czech National Revival movement, she was also an opponent to the Austrian domination in Bohemia and a supporter of women’s rights. Němcová was more of a rebelious kind, smoking in the salons among the men, which was not very well seen in the eyes of the society, being the so-called rule breaker. Němcová was against sexism and fighting actively for women’s rights.

Few of her most appreciated works were:
• Dopisy z lázní Františkových (The Letters from Franzenbad)
• Karla written in 1855
• Sestry written in 1855
• Pohádky a pověsti (Fairy Tales and Legends)
• Moje vlast

Babička is the most famous book written by her and the main topic is the daily life of the people from the countryside and their traditions. It starts with her grandmother moving in the same house as her. What Božena emphasises the most is the way her grandmother used to tell her stories from her own childhood and teach her the most important traditions from the Czech culture.

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