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František Xaver Šalda (1867 - 1937, mostly as F. X. Šalda) was a Czech literary critic, poet, playwright, novelist and professor at Charles University.

Life
Šalda was born on December 22, 1867 in Liberec (then settled mostly by Germans, in German Reichenberg) to a post officer who frequently moved from place to place and in 1870 was transferred to Prague. After moving in the area near Prague the family moved to Uhříněves in 1892 for the rest of their lives. According to Šalda's memoires his father was self-centered uninterested in culture and Šalda's mother Marie Kleinerová did not have relationship to literature (she kept only German prayer books). Mother died in 1903, father in 1908. , their two daughters died soon after birth and their son Alois, František's younger brother became a post officer settled in Slovakia. František received elementary education in Čáslav in 1874-8. He changed the German spelling of his surname Schalda to Czech Šalda. He studied law at Charles University but did not finish and started writing poetry and contributions to literary magazines (Literární listy, Rozhledy, Lumír, Česká revue, Volné směry, Kmen, Venkov, Národní listy, Tribuna, Kritika, and Tvorba). He also contributed to Ottův slovník naučný. He became acknowledged as a first-rate literary critic.