Ladislav Matejka

I knew Ladislav for many years and it was he who asked me "as an American poet" to translate Jiri Orten. He found Eva Eckert to work with me. He loved to talk poetry and was a loyal friend and collaborator. I remember many many times talking with him in his office in the Frieze building. When Joseph Brodsky came to town, I was his assistant, and Ladislav loved hearing about how the class was going. Such is life that I only learned today that he died years ago. I wrote an acrostic poem to him,...

J'ai rencontré Ladislav Matejka alors que j'étais toute jeune doctorante inscrite à Paris mais résidente à Ann Arbor. Je garde de ces rencontres sa passion pour l'Ecole de Prague dont il m'a fait apprécier l'originalité et la découverte de l'un de ses amis, intellectuel résidant à Paris, Jiri Veltrusky dont les analyses théâtrales étaient d'une grande force. De tels hommes ont beaucoup apporté au théâtre et rendent les parcours universitaires lumineux.
Avec mon meilleur...

Un grand intellectuel, vif et généreux, que j'ai eu le grand plaisir de côtoyer pendant mes années d'Ann Arbor et dont j'ai beaucoup appris.

Kära Duddie, Jag sänder dig mitt lika djupa som sena beklagande med anledning av din makes bortgång. Jag fick aldrig träffa Ladislav, men har förstått att han var en stor forskare och en god människa. Jag vet av egen erfarenhet att den man en gång lärt sig att älska, den bär man med sig i sitt hjärta genom hela livet. Varma hälsningar till dig och de dina, Göran

To Gudrun, Jan and Elizabeth:
From your neighbors on Day Street we send our heartfelt condolences to you. We have fond memories of all of you as our young families were growing up together. May you find peace in knowing that your Dad and husband was such a force in the history of his native land and such an amazing American.

Lada was very exceptional man and friend. We met first after 1948 in England and he staid several times in our apartment in London. I was already a resident of Ann Arbor when Lada came to the University of Michigan. We have been close friends of him and his family through all their years in Ann Arbor. Since the early 70ties Lada was also member of our small group of compatriots who met every Friday at the restaurant "Dominics" at the edge of UofM campus for beer, discussions and celebrations....