DOCSLIB.ORG

Copyright, Signature, Title

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Copyright, Signature, Title Copyright by Abigail Ruth Weil 2013 The Thesis committee for Abigail Ruth Weil Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: Between Then and Now, There and Here, Guilt and Innocence: Škvorecký’s Two Murders in my Double Life and the Ambiguities of Transitional Justice APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: ___________________ Mary Neuburger ___________________ Veronika Tuckerova Between Then and Now, There and Here, Guilt and Innocence: Škvorecký’s Two Murders in my Double Life and the Ambiguities of Transitional Justice Abigail Ruth Weil, B.A. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May, 2013 Acknowledgments A great many people, institutions and chance opportunities contributed to the process that has culminated in this thesis. The entire faculty, staff and student body at the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas has been incredibly supportive of this work in particular and my studies in general. Two Foreign Language Area Studies grants, administered by the University’s Center for European Studies, allowed me to focus all my energies on Czech studies, both language and literature. The combination of a Summer FLAS and a University of Texas Czech Endowment research grant enabled me to spend the summer of 2012 in Prague, studying Czech and conducting research. Additionally, it was both a great honor and a great help to present my work-in-progress at two conferences, last spring’s Czech Studies Workshop and this fall’s South Central Modern Language Association Conference. Two people must be recognized individually for their contributions to this work. First of all, Mary Neuburger, on top of teaching, writing and directing our Center, has been an indispensable supervisor and a generous mentor. I felt largely out of my element analyzing the historical and political context of this novel, and Dr. Neuburger’s assistance was invaluable. Next, a dayenu for Veronika Tuckerova, who not only acquainted me with Škvorecký but also introduced to me the subject of transitional justice, veered me away from more obvious works towards Two Murders in my Double Life, encouraged me to participate in my first academic conference, coached me through the writing process, gave me sources both textual and human and even taught me Czech. Without her guidance, my time at UT and my plans for the future would have been completely different. Finally, this work, as with everything I do, is dedicated to the memory of Jennifer Day, whose commitment to Slavic languages and literatures continues to inspire me and all of those lucky enough to have studied with her. iv Between Then and Now, There and Here, Guilt and Innocence: Škvorecký’s Two Murders in my Double Life and the Ambiguities of Transitional Justice by Abigail Ruth Weil, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Mary Neuburger I situate Škvorecký’s novel as both a primary document in the historical record of transitional justice and as a literary creation in the author’s larger oeuvre. In creating this work of autobiographical fiction, Škvorecký deals with the ambiguities of a tumultuous historico-political moment and creates an appropriately complex work of art. I combine social science research with close-reading of the text in the tradition of new historicism. In the introduction I explain the historico-political background, specifically transitional justice and lustration in Czech Republic in the early 1990s, that engendered Two Murders. In my first chapter, I examine the book reviews, Czech and English, that appeared following the two language-respective publications of Two Murders. In the remaining three chapters I present my analysis of the novel based on close-reading and applied historical information. Chapters two and three discuss different but interconnected manifestations of distance. Chapter two examines memory as the temporal distance of the mind, while chapter three explores exile as spatial distance. Škvorecký invests memory and exile with enormous significance, and uses both concepts to depict his characters’ isolation. In the final chapter, I discuss rumor and reputation in the novel’s two distinct story-lines, demonstrating how they come together to create a cohesive artistic work. Approaching the novel as both a historical document and a work of art, I hope to critically examine this complicated historical moment and appraise Škvorecký’s contribution to the post-communist Czech dialogue. v Table of Contents Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Background and Critical Reception.................................................................14 Chapter 2: Memory............................................................................................................39 Chapter 3: Exile ................................................................................................................58 Chapter 4: Rumor and Reputation.....................................................................................81 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................105 Works Cited.....................................................................................................................109 vi Introduction Two Murders in my Double Life is a doubly unique novel. Josef Škvorecký originally published the book in 1996 in Czech as Dvě vraždy v mem dvojím životě: detektivní román, částečně autobiografie (Two Murders in my Double Life: detective novel, partial autobiography) through the publishing house Ivo Železný. In 2001 Škvorecký produced his own English translation of the novel, and published it as simply Two Murders in my Double Life through Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. And though the blending of political commentary with autobiographical fiction is common in Josef Škvorecký’s work, this book is a singular contribution to the civic discussion of 1990s Czech Republic. To date, it is one of the very few literary works that can be considered part of the historical record of Czech transitional justice. This is simply because Two Murders in my Double Life is on the very short list of Czech works of art that deal with collaboration and transitional justice. Other works include Petr Placák’s 2007 novel Fízl (“Snitch”) and the films Pouta (“Shackles,” released in the US as Walking Too Fast) from 2009 and Konfident (“Agent”) from 2012. Each of those works, however, is more precisely about collaboration under communism than the transition that followed. Two Murder’s uniqueness comes into even sharper focus when the reader considers it not from a strictly literary but an interdisciplinary perspective. This novel, like all literature, is at once a work of fiction and a historical document. Two Murders is a reaction to and an exploration of a particular historical moment in which its author was personally, though 1 not voluntarily, involved. The novel is a unique example of both a historical record and a literary text. The early 1990s were a fraught time in Czech Republic, as in the post-communist world at large, rife with ambiguities in the conceptions of both past and future. But while social scientists and politicians are expected to produce, respectively, workable explanations and concrete proposals, artists have the freedom, even the responsibility, to work with and within uncertainty. In creating this work of autobiographical fiction, Škvorecký addresses and deals with the ambiguities of a tumultuous historico-political moment and succeeds in creating an appropriately complex work of art. My approach to this novel combines social science research with close-reading of the text in the tradition of new historicism. Sources include historical and sociological texts as well as literary criticism and other examples of Škvorecký’s fiction. In addition to textual sources, I conducted a series of informal, but invaluable, interviews in Prague in the summer of 2012 with specialists on various aspects of Škvorecký’s project.1 I situate Škvorecký’s novel as both a primary document in the historical record of transitional justice and as a literary creation in the author’s larger oeuvre. In the first chapter I examine the book reviews, Czech and English, that appeared following the two language-respective publications of Two Murders. Chapters two and three discuss different but interconnected manifestations of distance. Chapter two 1 Michael Špirit, June 6, 2012, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague; Adam Hradilek and Radim Schovanek, June 21, 2012, Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Prague; and Jiří Peňás; July 26, 2012, Shopping Center, Nový Smichov, Prague. 2 examines memory as the temporal distance of the mind, while chapter three explores exile as spatial distance. I argue that Škvorecký invests memory and exile with enormous significance, and uses both concepts to depict his characters’ isolation. In the final chapter, I discuss rumor and reputation in the novel’s two distinct story-lines, demonstrating how they come together to create a cohesive artistic work. Approaching the novel as both a historical document and a work of art, I hope to critically examine this complicated historical moment and appraise Škvorecký’s contribution
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Aftermath: Accounting for the Holocaust in the Czech Republic
    Aftermath: Accounting for the Holocaust in the Czech Republic Krista Hegburg Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERISTY 2013 © 2013 Krista Hegburg All rights reserved Abstract Aftermath: Accounting for the Holocaust in the Czech Republic Krista Hegburg Reparations are often theorized in the vein of juridical accountability: victims of historical injustices call states to account for their suffering; states, in a gesture that marks a restoration of the rule of law, acknowledge and repair these wrongs via financial compensation. But as reparations projects intersect with a consolidation of liberalism that, in the postsocialist Czech Republic, increasingly hinges on a politics of recognition, reparations concomitantly interpellate minority subjects as such, instantiating their precarious inclusion into the body po litic in a way that vexes the both the historical justice and contemporary recognition reparatory projects seek. This dissertation analyzes claims made by Czech Romani Holocaust survivors in reparations programs, the social work apparatus through which they pursued their claims, and the often contradictory demands of the complex legal structures that have governed eligibility for reparations since the immediate aftermath of the war, and argues for an ethnographic examination of the forms of discrepant reciprocity and commensuration that underpin, and often foreclose, attempts to account for the Holocaust in contemporary Europe. Table of Contents Acknowledgments ii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 18 Recognitions Chapter 2 74 The Veracious Voice: Gypsiology, Historiography, and the Unknown Holocaust Chapter 3 121 Reparations Politics, Czech Style: Law, the Camp, Sovereignty Chapter 4 176 “The Law is Such as It Is” Conclusion 198 The Obligation to Receive Bibliography 202 Appendix I 221 i Acknowledgments I have acquired many debts over the course of researching and writing this dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • Clermont–Ferrand I
    UNIVERSITE D’AUVERGNE – CLERMONT–FERRAND I ECOLE DE DROIT Thèse en vue de l’obtention du grade de Docteur Discipline : Droit Public Présentée et soutenue publiquement par MALGORZATA ULLA LA LUSTRATION DANS LES ETATS POSTCOMMUNISTES EUROPEENS 27 mai 2013 JURY Monsieur Aurélien ANTOINE, Professeur à l’Université Jean Monnet-Saint-Étienne, rapporteur Madame Marie-Elisabeth BAUDOIN, Maître de conférences, HDR à l’Université d’Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand I Monsieur Lech GARLICKI, ancien Président de Section à la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme, Professeur émérite à l’Université de Varsovie, rapporteur Monsieur Jean GICQUEL, Professeur émérite à l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne Monsieur Slobodan MILACIC, Professeur émérite à l’Université Montesquieu-Bordeaux IV Monsieur Dominique TURPIN, Professeur à l’Université d’Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand I, Président honoraire de l’Université d’Auvergne, Doyen honoraire de la Faculté de droit, directeur de thèse UNIVERSITE D’AUVERGNE – CLERMONT–FERRAND I ECOLE DE DROIT Thèse en vue de l’obtention du grade de Docteur Discipline : Droit Public Présentée et soutenue publiquement par MALGORZATA ULLA LA LUSTRATION DANS LES ETATS POSTCOMMUNISTES EUROPEENS 27 mai 2013 JURY Monsieur Aurélien ANTOINE, Professeur à l’Université Jean Monnet-Saint-Étienne, rapporteur Madame Marie-Elisabeth BAUDOIN, Maître de conférences, HDR à l’Université d’Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand I Monsieur Lech GARLICKI, ancien Président de Section à la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme, Professeur émérite à l’Université de Varsovie,
    [Show full text]
  • The Types and Functions of Samizdat Publications in Czechoslovakia, 1948–1989
    The Types and Functions of Samizdat Publications in Czechoslovakia, 1948–1989 Martin Machovec Czech Literature, Charles University, Prague Abstract The term samizdat, now widespread, denotes the unofficial dissemination of any variety of text (book, magazine, leaflet, etc.) within “totalitarian” political sys- tems, especially those after World War II. Such publishing, though often not explic- itly forbidden by law, was always punishable through the misuse of a variety of laws under various pretexts. It occurred first in the Soviet Union as early as the 1920s, before the term was used, and then, labeled as such, from the 1950s onward. While samizdat publication occurred in Czechoslovakia after 1948, the word itself was used there only from the 1970s on. This article seeks to clarify the term and the phenome- non of samizdat with regard to the Czech literary scene to trace its historical limits and the justification for it. I will first describe the functions of Czech samizdat during the four decades of the totalitarian regime (1948–89), that is, examine it as a non- static, developing phenomenon, and then I will offer criteria by which to classify it. Such texts are classifiable by motivations for publishing and distributing samizdat; the originator; traditionally recognized types of printed material; date of production and of issuance, if different; textual content; occurrence in the chronology of politi- cal and cultural events under the totalitarian regime; and type of technology used in production. The applicability of such criteria is tested against the varied samizdat activities of the Czech poet and philosopher Egon Bondy. Both in Czech literary history and, as far as we know, in the literary his- tories of other countries as well there is a tendency to claim what is more or less obvious: that samizdat books, periodicals, leaflets, and recordings 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Veronika Pehe Socialism Remembered: Cultural Nostalgia
    Veronika Pehe Socialism Remembered: Cultural Nostalgia, Retro, and the Politics of the Past in the Czech Republic, 1989-2014 UCL Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2 I, Veronika Pehe, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 3 Abstract This thesis explores the political dimensions of representing history through literature, film, and television, offering a wide-ranging analysis of the cultural responses to the period of state socialism in the Czech Republic after the collapse of the former Eastern Bloc. Unlike in Germany, where the memory of the period from the end of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall has largely been discussed in terms of nostalgia, in the Czech case there is little evidence for nostalgia for either the utopian impulse of the socialist project or its everyday aspects. This research thus challenges nostalgia as one of the main paradigms for the remembrance of the socialist period in the former Eastern Bloc and demonstrates that in the Czech context, an aesthetic fascination with the past is not at odds with, but in fact reinforces an anti-communist rejection of the politics of socialism. My contention is that the object of remembrance in cultural production in the Czech Republic is not the period of state socialism itself, but rather a narrative of its overcoming through resistance and heroism. The retrospective handling of the past through cultural texts and practices hinges on a narrative of progress from the period of socialism to liberal democracy, which ultimately serves to legitimate the present political order.
    [Show full text]
  • Kundera‟S Artful Exile: the Paradox of Betrayal
    KUNDERA‟S ARTFUL EXILE: THE PARADOX OF BETRAYAL Yauheniya A Spallino-Mironava A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of the Arts in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures (Comparative Slavic Languages and Literatures) Chapel Hill 2013 Approved by: Hana Píchová Radislav Lapushin Christopher Putney ABSTRACT YAUHENIYA SPALLINO-MIRONAVA: Kundera‟s Artful Exile. The Paradox of Betrayal (Under the direction of Hana Píchová) The Czech novelist Milan Kundera who has lived in France since 1975 is all too familiar with betrayal, which punctuates both his life and his works. The publication of his novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being in 1984 sparked a heated debate among some of the most prominent Czech dissidents at home and leading Czech intellectuals in exile. Accusations of betrayal leveled against the author are central to the polemic, but the main area of contention addresses the larger questions of the role, rights, and freedoms of a writer of fiction, as expressed by two branches of Czechoslovak culture: exilic and dissident. By examining the dispute surrounding Kundera‟s best-known novel and tracing the trajectory of the betrayals he allegedly committed in exile, I seek to investigate the broader philosophical issue of a novelist‟s freedom, to delineate the complexities of an exilic writer‟s propensity to betray, and to demonstrate, using Kundera‟s own conception of the novel as a genre, that his betrayals are in fact positive, liberating, and felicitous. ii Table of Contents Chapters Introduction: Betrayal and Exile ..............................................................................1 I.
    [Show full text]
  • Cold War Bohemia: Literary Exchange Between the United States and Czechoslovakia, 1947-1989
    Cold War Bohemia: Literary Exchange between the United States and Czechoslovakia, 1947-1989 The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Goodman, Brian Kruzick. 2016. Cold War Bohemia: Literary Exchange between the United States and Czechoslovakia, 1947-1989. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33493571 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Cold War Bohemia: Literary Exchange between the United States and Czechoslovakia, 1947-1989 A dissertation presented by Brian Kruzick Goodman to The Committee on Degrees in the History of American Civilization in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of the History of American Civilization Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts April 2016 © 2016 Brian Kruzick Goodman All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Louis Menand Brian Kruzick Goodman Cold War Bohemia: Literary Exchange between the United States and Czechoslovakia, 1947-1989 Abstract After the onset of the Cold War, literature and culture continued to circulate across the so-called Iron Curtain between the United States and the countries of the Eastern bloc, often with surprising consequences. This dissertation presents a narrative history of literary exchange between the US and Czechoslovakia between 1947 and 1989. I provide an account of the material circulation of texts and discourses that is grounded in the biographical experiences of specific writers and intellectuals who served as key intermediaries between Cold War blocs.
    [Show full text]
  • Contemporary Influence of the Russian Orthodox Church Within the “Autocephalous” Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
    Kremlin Watch Report 04.10.2018 Contemporary Influence of the Russian Orthodox Church Within the “Autocephalous” Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia Kremlin Watch Team Kremlin Watch is a strategic program which aims to expose and confront instruments of Russian influence and disinformation operations focused against Western democracies. Contemporary Influence of the Russian Orthodox Church Within the “Autocephalous” Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia Executive Summary • A general inquiry into events surrounding the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia reveals almost nothing within the realm of Western academia, and the very little information that exists in the Czech language necessitates a thorough compilation of information to bridge the literary gap. • Despite its allegedly independent legal and religious status, the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia continues to remain a victim of the ecclesiastical hegemony of the Russian Orthodox Church—an institution that has become extremely political and militant and seeks to extend the soft power and geopolitical influence of the Kremlin. • The Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia has acted as an extension of its Russian counterpart ever since it was hijacked by Soviet “liberators” following WWII. It continues to receive support from numerous Russian organizations and itself promotes a pro-Kremlin and anti-Western worldview in line with the concept of Russkiy Mir and Russian disinformation efforts aimed at presenting the Putin regime as an open and legitimate government. • Starting around 2012, the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia underwent a series of administrative and financial scandals that divided its leadership and betrayed the strong presence and infiltration of Russian elements within this religious group.
    [Show full text]
  • The Czech E Xp Erience
    …Today, fifteen years on, we are trying to learn from both our achievements and our failures. We try to imagine the position of those who will take power tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, somewhere close or a world apart. In doing so, we assume responsibility for the future of those countries setting out on the difficult road to freedom, countries that will find themselves on a stage, thrust into the spotlight… Petr Pithart The Czech Experience BBurma_cover_ORANZ.inddurma_cover_ORANZ.indd 1 99/26/06/26/06 99:32:41:32:41 PMPM Transformation: The Czech Experience Published by People in Need with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Prague 2006 Printed by Hugo printing company Pražská 16, 102 21 Praha 10, Czech Republic ISBN 80-86961-12-5 (English version) ISBN 80-86961-05-2 (Spanish version) ISBN 80-86961-06-0 (Belarus version) Transformation: The Czech Experience Table of contents Preface: The First Days Petr Pithart 7 Czechoslovakia’s Return to Democracy Jiří Suk 9 Constitutionality and Retroactivity in Central Europe Jiří Přibáň 29 The Fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia Ján Čarnogurský 43 Changes in the Judiciary Jaroslav Marek 51 My Reflections on the Transformation of the Judiciary Otakar Motejl 57 Economic Reforms Viktor Hanzlík 61 Privatisation Tomáš Ježek 81 The Seamy Side of Banking Sector Transformation Jan Hájek 89 Army Transformation Jan Eichler 99 Transformation of the Interior Ministry and Security Forces Jan Frolík 103 My Time at the Interior Ministry Jan Ruml 111 The Transformation of the
    [Show full text]
  • Underground Rock Music in Czechoslovakia, 1968- 1989
    Passion Play: Underground Rock Music in Czechoslovakia, 1968- 1989 Anna (Naninka) Vanicek A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts Graduate Programme in Ethnomusicology York University North York, Ontario September 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 .canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, nie Wellington WwaON K1AON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Your db votre nifdm Our dlt, None lBlBlma9 The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé me licence non exclusive licence allowhg the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfonn7 vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de rnicrofichelfih, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be p~tedor othenivise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Passion Play: Underground Rock Music in Czechoslovakia 1968- 1989 by Anna Naninka Vanicek a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of York University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASERS OF ARTS 1997 Permission has been granted to the LIBRARY OF YORK UNI- VERSITY to lend or seil copies of this thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • The Biography of Paul Wilson
    MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature THE BIOGRAPHY OF PAUL WILSON Diploma thesis Brno 2019 Supervisor Author Mgr. Martin Němec, Ph.D. Bc. Tereza Heřmanová Declaration I hereby declare that I wrote the thesis by myself and that I used only the sources listed in the bibliography. I agree with the deposition of the thesis in the library of the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University in Brno to make it accessible for further study purposes. Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci vypracovala samostatně, s použitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy Univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších přepisů. Souhlasím, aby práce byla uložena na Masarykově Univerzitě v Brně v knihovně Pedagogické fakulty a zpřístupněna ke studijním účelům. Brno, 2019 ……………………………... Tereza Heřmanová Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the description of biographical data and analysis of work of Paul Wilson, Canadian translator from Czech to English language. For the clarity of this paper, the thesis is divided into two main parts and that is Life of Paul Wilson and Works of Paul Wilson. The first part is dedicated to a detailed description of the translator’s life, starting with his youth, focusing on his ten year stay in Czechoslovakia, terminating with the contemporary life of the author, adding the information about his plans for the future. The second part consists of many subchapters, chronologically mapping Paul Wilson’s translations, articles, essays and other publications of his.
    [Show full text]
  • Artists Marginalized by Own Revolution Monday, November 9, 2009 Natalia A
    Artists marginalized by own revolution Monday, November 9, 2009 Natalia A. Feduschak THE WASHINGTON TIMES PRAGUE | Martin Putna stood next to his favorite poster at an exhibit that opened here recently celebrating the life of Vaclav Havel, the Czech playwright and former president who became the face of the peaceful revolution that brought down communist regimes throughout much of Eastern Europe 20 years ago. "Being in power makes me permanently suspicious of myself," reads the caption on the poster, which shows a smiling Mr. Havel sitting on an ornately decorated chair. A tagline notes that Mr. Havel made the statement in 1991, when he was awarded a prize for outstanding contributions to European culture. Artists and other cultural figures played an outsized role in the demise of governments in the old Soviet satellites — a role that has diminished as societies have opened up to a freer interchange of ideas with the rest of the world. Under communism, mimeographed manuscripts known in Russian as "samizdat" or self- published works, passed from hand to hand to avoid the censors. Other works were smuggled out to the West for publication. Western culture, from modern art to heavy- metal music, was coveted forbidden fruit. The catalyst for the Charter 77 movement co-founded by Mr. Havel in 1977 was the arrest of a Czech psychedelic band known as the Plastic People of the Universe. The "velvet" revolution that remade Czechoslovakia in 1989 took its name from the Velvet Underground, a U.S. rock band that was a favorite of Mr. Havel's. The role that culture and literature played in Central and Eastern Europe was "bigger and more important than in the free world," said Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Rights in Czechoslovakia the Documents
    CCMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES h-MAN RIGHTS IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA: THE DOCUMENTS OF CHARTER '77 1977 - 1982 ).C. July, 1982 -I YAbLE OF U( 1 tNTS Page Foreword Dy iUante b. Fascell and Robert Jole ................ Acknowlecgements .................. ........................... 4 Introduction by H. Cordon Skilling .......................... 3 St(C1 IOiN l: Letters sent to the Lviadria Conference and to President husak .Tharter 77 letter to Or. zustav Husak, President of tne Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, September 17, 198U .... 10 Letter sent to Delegates of the tvaarid Conference by Vaciav benda, Jiri Dienstbier, ana Vaciav havei from their prison in Czechoslovakia, November 16G0. 14 Letter to CSCL Niadria Conference from Political Prisoners in miirov Prison, January i9&1 .l.. ....... ... 16 Letter from Charter 77 to Dr. (ustav husak, President of Czechoslovak Socialist tepubiic, February 22, 1Y)1 ..... 17 Letter to the tSCLr Macria Conference from VONS, the Czechoslovak League for human Rights, May 15, 1l98 ..... 15 S t('I iUN .11: oiunibered Documents Issued by Charter 77 Spokesmen ,i - What (harter 77 is and What it is iNot ..... 2 iiL - iKeport on uelivering the Text of Cnarter 77 to the Czecnoslovak Covernment ...... 26 if3 - rsdaress to the Presidium of the Federal Msserribly, the Government of the CSSR and Press Agencies ....... 2Y I#4 - luiscrimination in kaducation ......................... 31 I/6 - L.eport on tne Lbetention and Imprisonment of L-harter 77 Signatories .............................. 37 ,7 - 'Violations oI Social Rights in Czechoslovakia ....... ji it - i-'ree aomn ot Ke igion .7..... 57 iflu - Anaiysis oI Charter 77 Following Professor Patocka's ueath ....................................
    [Show full text]