Ivan Martin Jirous

Ivan Martin Jirous (23 September 1944 ) was a Czech poet and dissident, best known as the artistic director of the Czech psychedelic rock group The Plastic People of the Universe, and later one of the key figures of the Czech underground during the communist regime. He is more frequently known as Magor, which can be roughly translated as "shithead", "loony", or "fool" (though meant as a positive title), a nickname given to him by the experimental poet .

Trained as an art historian but unable to work in this field in Czechoslovakia under the Communist regime, Jirous became a member of the dissident subculture, and during the period of normalisation, Jirous was imprisoned five times for his activities. His particular contribution to the dissident movement was the concept of "second culture", according to which simply expressing oneself through forbidden cultural and artistic activities would ultimately undermine the totalitarian system, a concept closely related to his friend Václav Havel's "living in truth", and Václav Benda's "parallel polis". In 1962, Jirous sat the entrance exam to study history of art at the Philosophy Faculty of Charles University in Prague. A condition of entry for students at the time was the completion of a year in industry before beginning their studies; in Jirous' case, he had to work as a construction worker and stoker. Jirous studied between 1963 and 1968. The topic of his diploma thesis was visual poetry in the works of the poets Jiří Kolář and Henri Michaux. His sister Zara, who was two years older than him and married to the photographer , also pursued fine art.

Underground activities In 1967, Jirous became familiar with the underground group The Primitives Group, and later in 1969 became the artistic director and manager of The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU). Due to his opposition to his country's totalitarian regime, Jirous was prohibited from publishing his literature. Instead, he had to work as a night watchman and gardener to avoid being unemployed, which was a punishable offence. In June 2011, his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.

Jirous's most influential work was Notes on the Third Czech Musical Revival, which he published in exile in 1975. The work was considered a policy statement for the non-political Czech underground and included: Radical rejection of any form of coercion; The renunciation of any imposed artistic programme; Emphasise authenticity in life and artistic creation; Determination against totalitarian structures.

According to Jirous, "the aim of the underground is to create an alternative culture. A culture which will be independent of official communication channels, social evaluation, and the hierarchy of values as imposed by the establishment. A culture which cannot aim to destroy the establishment, for that will only play into the establishment's hands."

Jirous compiled an anthology of underground poetry entitled Egon Bondy to the 45th birthday of the disabled siblings. He also organised several "festivals of independent culture"; the first took place in Postupice in September 1974, forcefully broken up by police, The two men became friends and allies, and Jirous is mentioned several times in Havel's Letters to Olga.

On 16 March 1976, Jirous was arrested again, along with the PPU and many other musicians. The trial became a cause célèbre, and organised opposition to the charges brought together for the first time the originally apolitical underground groups and political dissidents led by Havel, which eventually led to the creation of Charter 77. In 1972 their son was born, Tobiáš, now an actor, writer and DJ. Jirous is named as Tobias's father on his birth certificate, but Tobias's biological father is in fact the philosopher Jiří Němec.

In 1976, Jirous married for a second time, to the painter Juliana, née Stritzková (1943–2023), the granddaughter of Josef Florian. Jirous and Juliána had two daughters, Jirous spent a large proportion of his daughters' childhoods in prison, but remained in contact with his family. The marriage broke down shortly after his release. His daughter Františka is a novelist, and the chair of the organisation Magor's Estate, which aims to transform Jirous's estate in Vysočina into a monument to poets. Marta continued her father's poetry in the collection Walk with an Angel.

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

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

Works Ivan Martin Jirous first started publishing art criticism during the 1960s. At first, he focused on foreign modern art (Russian avant-garde, Lucio Fontana, Andy Warhol), then later examined the relationship between beat music and art, and later, he specialised in the Křižovnická school of clean humour without the joke (Naděžda Plíšková, Karel Nepraš and Jan Steklík). Jirous was also interested in older art, such as the sculptures of Václav Levý. Jirous contributed to journals including Ateliér, Divadlo ("Theatre"), Host do domu ("Guesthouse"), Sešity pro literaturu a diskusi ("Notebooks for literature and discussion"), Výtvarná práce ("Visual works"), Výtvarné umění ("Fine art"), Výtvarný život ("Visual life"), to the international periodicals Art Canada and Exile Testimony, as well as the samizdat publication Vokno.

Features of Magor's poetry

Macaronic language, paraphrasing Expression Imperfect rhymes Assonance Acrostic Sarcasm and irony Vulgarism and Catholic elements Self-expression, existential depth Search for self and God Spirituality Addressing specific people, referring to other authors "I do not consider myself a poet, rather I know that I love poetry"

Poetry collections (Czech titles) Magorův ranní zpěv, samizdat 1975 - complete collection of his first poems Magorova krabička, samizdat 1979 Mládí nevykouřené, samizdat 1975, 1979 and 1980 - in all three of his first poetry collections, Egon Bondy's influence is evident Magorovo borágo, samizdat 1981 Magorova mystická růže, samizdat 1981 Magorovy labutí písně, samizdat 1985, London 1989 - This collection arose while Jirous was in prison and was smuggled out to be published. Since he was unable to write while in prison, Jirous instead had to memorise all of his work. The collection includes a number of contemporary cultural and public figures which means it can serve as a "poetic dictionary" of representatives of dissent from that period. This collection received the Tom Stoppard award. Ochranný dohled, samizdat 1985 - thematically follows 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

Children's work Magor dětem, (1982-1986) samizdat 1986 - poems and fairy tales which were written in letters to his daughter from prison.

Other books Magorův zápisník, 1999, a collection of cultural texts and essays written between 1965-1990. Magorovy dopisy, 2006, letters written between 1973 and 1985 to his wives Věra and Juliana from various Czech prisons. Humpolecký Magor, 2007, a collection of memories from his classmates and teachers from Humpolec, which are combined with some of Jirous's unpublished works.

CDs Agon Orchestra & Ivan M. Jirous - Magorova Summa, 2009, Guerilla records, read by Ivan M. Jirous. Ivan Martin Jirous - Pravdivý příběh Plastic People, 2009, read by Ivan M. Jirous, an Oldřich Kaiser. Ivan Martin Jirous - Magorovy labutí písně, 2011, Guerilla records, read by Ivan M. Jirous. Ivan Martin Jirous - Magorovi ptáci a další příběhy, 2012, Guerilla records, read by Ivan M. Jirous.