Born: 10 July 1868, Czechia
Died: 1 January 1920
Country most active: Czechia
Also known as: Růžena Čápová
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Born in Mikulovice (Moravia), Czechoslovakia, she came to Prague as a young girl, and lived there the rest of her life. A powerful influence upon her literary development was exerted by her marriage to a prominent Czech prose writer, F. X. Svoboda (born 1867). A still greater influence can be traced to that master of Czech, the literary critic F. X. Saida. Svobodova traveled a great deal, especially in Western Europe. The change that occurred in the views of Czech society at the close of the nineteenth century, especially as regards the position of women, and the cultural effort that followed, is represented in the writings of Ruzena Svobodova. She was not concerned merely about feminism, but was anxious to promote an understanding of pure and genuine relations between man and woman. Svobodova, who first traversed the path of naturalistic writings (The Weighted Bar of Corn), turned to symbolism. She had now acquired a wealth of knowledge and experience, of art and skill, and she sang from very joy of life and beauty. After this period, came a book on conjugal tragedies, After the Marriage Feast, which appeared in 1916. After her death, the unfinished book Zahrada Iremsha, (The Garden of Irem), was published, a work on which she had spent several years. During the Great War, Ruzena Svobodova spent all her powers in aid to humanity. Her efforts were regarded by the great majority of the people of the nation as a signal of release from bondage, and as an invitation to prepare, on the threshold of the expected national liberation, for a purer patriotism and a more perfect humanity.