Open Letters: Selected Writings 1965-1990Spanning twenty-five years, this historic collection of writings shows Vaclav Havel's evolution from a modestly known playwright who had the courage to advise and criticize Czechoslovakia's leaders to a newly elected president whose first address to his fellow citizens begins, "I assume you did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you." Some of the pieces in Open Letters, such as "Dear Dr. Husak" and the essay "The Power of the Powerless," are by now almost legendary for their influence on a generation of Eastern European dissidents; others, such as some of Havel's prison correspondence and his private letter to Alexander Dubcek, appear in English for the first time. All of them bear the unmistakable imprint of Havel's intellectual rigor, moral conviction, and unassuming eloquence, while standing as important additions to the world's literature of conscience. "From the Trade Paperback edition. |
Contents
On Evasive Thinking | 10 |
On the Theme of an Opposition | 25 |
Letter to Alexander Dubček | 36 |
Copyright | |
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aims Alexander Dubček appear authorities become believe better bloc Bohumil Hrabal bureaucratic Charter 77 citizens communism Communist Party conscience course culture Czech Czechoslovakia democratic dissidents economic Edvard Beneš Europe everything existence experience expression fact fear feel forces František Kriegel freedom genuine greengrocer happen Havel hope human ideology important independent individual interest Jan Patočka Jan Vladislav kind live Ludvík Vaculík manipulation means ment modern moral movement mysterious nations natural never nihilization official once opposition parallel polis Paul Wilson peace perestroika perhaps play plurality police political possible post-totalitarian system power structure Prague Spring prison reality realize reason reform regime responsibility ritual samizdat sense simply situation slogan slovakia social society Soldier Svejk someone Soviet sphere spiritual story talk theatre things tion totalitarian system traditional tragic translation truth understand Václav Václav Havel words write