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Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz

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Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz (born Markéta Götzová; 15 February 1927 – 6 November 2022) was a Canadian scholar and translator, best-known for her work on Czech literature. Born to a German Bohemian mother and a Czech-Jewish father, she won the 1988 Ordo Scriptores Bohemici prize, 2000 Medal of Merit,[1] and 2016 George Theiner Prize.[2]

Radio Prague International described her as

"a crucial link for Czechoslovak dissidents with the West, smuggling forbidden books into Czechoslovakia and in turn smuggling dissident literature out of the country, helping to bring it into the Western consciousness."[3]

Life

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Markéta Götzová was born in Liberec.[4] From 1935 to 1948, she lived in Místek where she studied at a German School.[5] Her father was Jewish and survived Theresienstadt.[6]

In 1948, her family emigrated to Toronto. She studied German philology and graduated from University of Toronto,[6] and Columbia University.[4] She wrote her doctoral thesis on the 19th century German novelist Wilhelm Raabe.[6] From 1959, she taught German literature at University of British Columbia, and was best known for her scholarship on samizdat and dissident writers such as Václav Havel.[6][7]

In 1965, she married Polish-born political scientist Władysław Stankiewicz. From 1973 to 1989, she travelled annually to Prague, and met many Czech writers, promoting their work in the west.[4][5][6] She retired in 1992 but continued writing and speaking at conferences.[6]

She died at her home in Vancouver on 6 November 2022, aged 96.[5][6]

Works

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  • Markéta Goetz-Stankiewicz (ed) The Vanĕk Plays: Four Authors, One Character. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1987. ISBN 978-0774802673[8]
  • Good-Bye Samizdat: Twenty Years of Czechoslovak Underground Writing, Northwestern University Press, 1992. ISBN 978-0810110359

References

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  1. ^ "Státní vyznamenání Nositelé Medaile Za zásluhy". 2021-03-04. Archived from the original on 2021-03-04. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  2. ^ "Markéta Goetz-Stankiewicz: of unknown origin in a strange wood without leaves". Czech Radio. 2016-09-24. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  3. ^ "Woman who helped bring Czechoslovak dissident literature to West dies at 95". Radio Prague International. 2022-11-08. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  4. ^ a b c Wilson, Paul (2022-11-24). "B.C. scholar championed the writing of Czech dissidents". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  5. ^ a b c "Remembering the life of MARKETA GOETZ-STANKIEWICZ 1927 - 2022". Vancouver Sun and Province. November 12, 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Zaenker, Paul (November 25, 2022). "Dr. Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz (1927–2022): A Tribute". UBC Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  7. ^ "Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz - Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies". UBC Faculty of Arts. 2021-04-30. Archived from the original on 2021-04-30. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  8. ^ Thomas, Alfred (1992). "The Vanĕk Plays: Four Authors, One Character. Ed. Markéta Goetz-Stankiewicz. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1987. xxix, 258 pp. Plates. Paper. - Living in Truth. By Václav Havel. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1986. 315 pp. $8.95, paper". Slavic Review. 51 (2): 348–351. doi:10.2307/2499547. ISSN 0037-6779. JSTOR 2499547. S2CID 163944807.
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