VRCHLICKY
Jaroslav Vrchlický, whose real name is Emil Frida, is a significant personality in modern Bohemian literature.
He was born m 1853. He studied at various secondary schools and later attended the University of Prague. Here he devoted himself almost exclusively to theology and philosophy, and then—thanks to the generosity of Count Montecuccoli-Laderchi—traveled for a time in Italy.
In 1893 he was made Professor of Modern Literature in the University of Prague, of which he became one of the most distinguished figures.
His fertility as a writer is so unusual that it can not be passed over in silence. He has published many books of lyric verse, dramatic verse, stories in prose, and translations from many languages, including the work of English and American writers. He has given his countrymen versions of Schiller, Dante, Ariosto, Victor Hugo, Leopardi, and Provençal and Spanish poets.
The story Abisag, which we give, is from the collection of prose tales entitled Bits of Colored Glass. Vrchlický died in 1912.
