In 1907 Vladislav entered the Royal Gymnasium in Prague Malá Strana, but problems with school routine and pedantry of professors made him leave the next year.

Vančura hated this school immensely; on 14 May 1909 he published his first short story V aleji ("In Alley") in the literary supplement of Horkého týdeník ("Horký's weekly magazine").

In 1917, the painter group Tvrdošíjní ("Stubborns") was founded by Josef Čapek, Jan Zrzavý, Václav Špála, Vlastimil Hofman, Bedřich Feuerstein, Zdeněk Rykr and other close friends of Vladislav.

A few days later, on 3 October, he published his small prose Ráj ("Paradise") in S. K. Neumann's magazine Červen ("June") and worked on a fairy-tale book Kolébka ("Cradle") and on a play Iason.

In 1919 Vladislav returned to Prague to continue his university studies; from 1919–1920 he published many art reviews in daily newspaper České slovo ("The Czech Word").

More important was his second short stories book, published in 1924, Dlouhý, Široký a Bystrozraký ("Long, Thick and Sharpsighted"), containing excellent texts like Cesta do světa (Journey to the World) or F. C. Ball.

It is Vančura's first novel and maybe also his best - story of tragical life of a wealthy baker who is continuously declining into destitution and death despite his gentleness and goodness.

In 1967, the book was successfully filmed as Capricious Summer by the Czech director Jiří Menzel who also played the role of Arnoštek in this movie.

In 1928 Vančura wrote his fourth novel, Poslední soud ("Last Judgement"), published in 1929 and built his new white functionalistic villa in Zbraslav designed by architect Jaromír Krejcar, the husband of Franz Kafka's friend, journalist and translator Milena Jesenská.

The novel was inspired by a true Middle Ages story of the knights of the Vančura family who were in a private war with other noblemen and with the King's town Mladá Boleslav.

Vančura's activity continued through the next year as he published the novel Útěk do Budína ("Escape to Budapest"), a contemporary story of love, marriage and life of a Prague middle-class woman and a Slovak nobleman.

Vančura entered the strong anti-Hitler cultural movement and started to write the book Obrazy z dějin národa českého (Pictures of the History of the Bohemian Nation); its first parts were published and then became a bestseller and symbol of resistance.

One of them was Vančura, executed by SS members in the military area Prague-Kobylisy on 1 June 1942 at 6:45 p.m. His body together with many others was disposed of secretly at Strašnice Crematorium.