Dyk was born in
Pšovka u Mělníka in the
Kingdom of Bohemia in 1877. His family moved to
Prague in 1888 where he began to write. His family settled in the Prague suburb of
Vinohrady in 1904 and that year he published a novel titled
The End of Hackenschmid which was anti-Austrian. Dyk had taken part in the
Czech Chess Championship the year before and he was to remain interested in the game for at least the next twenty years. He was most active in 1913 and seven of his games between 1903 and 1927 are recorded but, of these, only one is a victory. Viktor Dyk studied at a
gymnasium in Prague (one of his teachers was
Alois Jirásek). Dyk completed his education at
Charles University in Prague where he achieved a law degree. Later, law and politics were to dominate his life. In 1911, he became involved in politics and joined the
Czech Constitutionalist Progressive Party (
Státoprávně pokroková strana). He stood for office in the 1911 elections, but received just 205 votes in Vinohrady and placed fourth overall of five candidates. Dyk together with
Franz Kafka spoke of a "Great Wall" which, like the
Great Wall of China or the
Tower of Babel, became a metaphor for the cultural and linguistic division that they believed was required between Czech and Germanic culture. Dyk wrote in the magazine
Lumír, where he was known to state that Bohemia had to become Czech or they should die in the attempt. On April 13, 1913, he composed a tirade in reply to an article published by
Franz Werfel. Dyk stated that his group had not built the "Great Wall" as they were not opposed
per se to German ideas, however they did see the dangers. Dyk saw no problem with communicating with Germans but he warned against "surrender" to ensure that they did not become "Czech speaking Germans". During the
First World War, he continued to write and he became involved in helping write a libretto for an opera by
Leoš Janáček. Janáček's fifth opera,
The Excursions of Mr. Brouček to the Moon and to the 15th Century went through a number of librettists and Dyk worked on Janáček's opera which was based on a story by
Svatopluk Čech. In 1915 he started working with
Vinohrady Theatre. In 1918, he co-founded the
Czechoslovak National Democratic Party (). In 1907 he became the editor of the magazine
Lumír. He was to lead this magazine for the rest of his life. The magazine's followers were known by the same name as the magazine. The writers and artists involved started a new direction in Czech culture. Previously, the culture was seen as coming from Germans and sources in German. For instance, German poets like
Heinrich Heine were translated poem by poem from German to Czech. With the emergence of the Lumír group writers like Vrchlický, Dyk himself and
Julius Zeyer the focus turned away from German culture. This change of focus is said to have led other Czech intellectuals to also look in this new direction for scientific, economic and social ideas. His political views were
conservative and
nationalist and in 1920 he was elected to parliament. In the times of the
First Republic of Czechoslovakia, Viktor Dyk was one of the prominent intellectual opponents of President
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Viktor Dyk died of
heart failure on 14 May 1931 while swimming in the sea near the island of
Lopud, near
Dubrovnik in Croatia. He was replaced as senator by
Jan Kapras. Dyk's funeral attracted many mourners. He was buried at
Olšany Cemetery in Prague. ==Legacy==