Zeyer, Julius

Zeyer, Julius yo͝oˈlĭo͝os zāˈĕr, tsīˈər [key], 1841–1901, Czech writer. Restless, nostalgic, and mystical, Zeyer wrote ornate, almost decadent epic poetry based on ancient and medieval legends of many lands. His semiautobiographical novel Jan Maria Plojhar (1880) deals with the tragic nature of the artist. His dramas, including Raduz and Mahulena (1898, tr. 1923), are celebrated as lyric poetry but are theatrically unsuccessful.

See study by R. Pynsent (1973).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Russian and Eastern European Literature: Biographies