Egon Hostovský (1908-1973) is one of the authors who shaped Czech literature during the interwar period and helped shape Central European literature, represented by writers such as Franz Kafka, Joseph Roth and Stefan Zweig etc. (Hostovský and Zweig were cousins). Despite having success with his work in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s – about 9 of his books were published in English and a few in German and French – he fell into oblivion as an author.

Hostovský made his debut in the late 1920s and his books are labelled as psychological novels. But at the same time, he was praised for his ability to tell stories. He was hailed as a great talent and in 1935 he made a name for himself as a major author with the novel Žhář (The Arsonist). For this book, he received the Czechoslovak State Award for Literature.Yet another important novel from the pre-war period is the 1937 psychological family drama Dům bez pána (A House Without a Master).

In the late 1930s, Hostovský began working in the diplomatic service. He was warned by a bigoted Catholic friend, who told him that although he hated Jews and blamed them for everything, he considered Hostovský a decent man and advised him to flee the country from the Nazis. Hostovský went to Paris and ended up in New York via Portugal. There he worked for the Czech government in exile and became friends with Jan Masaryk, son of the former president T. G. Masaryk, who later became foreign minister. During these war years, he published perhaps one of his most remarkable novels, Úkryt (The Hideout, 1943).

Once the war was over, Hostovský returned to Prague where he published one of his most impressive novels: Cizinec hledá byt (Stranger Seeks Apartment, 1947). After the communist coup in 1948, Hostovský again flees his country, but this time permanently. Via Denmark and Norway, he ended up back in the United States. In 1951, Nezvěstný (Missing) was published. Graham Greene, a great admirer of Hostovský’s work, recalls meeting him in connection with his novel Missing: “My first meeting with Egon Hostovský was akin to his own work,” Graham Greene wrote in 1958, “a complex flavour of black humour, melodrama and despair. It was in Prague during the week of the communist revolution. Hostovský entered my hotel room immediately after a final meeting at his foreign ministry with his beloved chief Masaryk – who would be dissolved a few days later. We sat on the bed drinking my bottle of Scotch and outside the streets were noisy with parades of trade unionists shouting their freedom.”

After Missing, Hostovský published several other novels in the United States. Of these, one should certainly mention Půlnoční pacient (The Midnight Patient). Graham Greene said of this book: “On one level, The Midnight Patient is a topical thriller about the world of the cold war, with scenes of suspense and nightmare humour that would have attracted Hitchcock in his great days. But on a second level, it is literature – a beautiful and original novel that takes a sombre stand for the values of trust in a world dominated by fear of the neighbour.”

The Midnight Patient was also adapted for a film. Unfortunately, however, it became a screwball comedy with Peter Ustinov in one of the leading roles.

On his own work, Hostovský said: “During my life, I have witnessed activities of great personalities and been touched by great historical events. I am able to talk about Joseph Stalin and Billy Graham; I saw in person Nikita Kruschev shoulder to shoulder with President Eisenhower, and I even saw and heard Elvis Presley; I can talk about the astronauts and the Beatles, about war in South Asia and the remarriage of Elizabeth Taylor. Haunted by all these experiences, I have tried, independent of psychiatrists, to find a key to our difficult times and to build in my literature a place of spiritual safety for myself and my readers.”

Novels (selection)

Žhář (The Arsonist)
Melantrich, Prague (1935)

Úkryt (The Hideout)
Random House, New York (1945) / Melantrich, Prague (1946)

Cizinec hledá byt (Stranger Seeks Apartment)
Melantrich, Prague (1947)

Nezvěstný (Missing)
The Viking Press, New York (1952) / Nový domov. Toronto (1955)

Novels (other)

Případ profesora Kornera (The Case of Profesor Korner)
Melantrich, Prague (1932)

Dům bez pána (A House Without a Master)
Melantrich, Prague (1937)

Půlnoční pacient (The Midnight Patient)
The Viking Press, New York (1955) / Universum Press, New York (1959)

Dobročinný večírek (The Charity Ball)
Heinemann, London (1957) / Sixty-Eight Publishers. Toronto (1985)

Všeobecné spiknutí (The Plot)
Doubleday, New York (1961) /Sixty-Eight Publishers. Toronto (1973)