To the Castle and Back

Vaclav Havel

Knopf Canada, Mar 11, 2011 - Biography & Autobiography - 400 pages

An astonishingly candid memoir from the acclaimed, dissident playwright elected President after the dramatic Czechoslovakian Velvet Revolution — one of the most respected political figures of our time.

As writer and statesman, Václav Havel played an essential part in the profound changes that occurred in Central Europe in the last decades of the twentieth century. In this most intimate memoir, he writes about his transition from outspoken dissident and political prisoner to a player on the international stage in 1989 as newly elected president of Czechoslovakia after the ousting of the Soviet Union, and, in l993, as president of the newly formed Czech Republic.

Havel gives full rein to his impassioned stance against the devastation wrought by communism, but the scope of his concern in this engrossing memoir extends far beyond the circumstances he faced in his own country. The book is full of anecdotes of his interactions with world figures: offering a peace pipe to Mikhail Gorbachev, meditating with the Dali Lama, confessing to Pope John Paul II and partying with Bill and Hilary Clinton. Havel shares his thoughts on the future of the European Union and the role of national identity in today’s world. He explains why he has come to change his mind about the war in Iraq, and he discusses the political and personal reverberations he faces because of his initial support of the invasion. He writes with equal intelligence and candour about subjects as diverse as the arrogance of western power politics, the death of his first wife and his own battle with lung cancer.

Woven through are internal memos he wrote during his presidency that take us behind the scenes of the Prague Castle – the government’s seat of power – showing the internal workings of the office and revealing Havel’s mission to act as his country’s conscience, and even, at times, its chief social convenor.

Written with characteristic eloquence, wit and well-honed irony combined with an unfailing sense of wonder at the course his life has taken, To the Castle and Back is a revelation of one of the most important political figures of our time.

What people are saying

TO THE CASTLE AND BACK

User Review  - Kirkus

The noted Czech dramatist and politician turns in a "strange little book" recounting his years in office.The castle in question is the one in which Havel (The Art of the Impossible, 1997, etc.) lived ...

Contents

• Section 1: 2
• Section 2: 3
• Section 3: 20
• Section 4: 25
• Section 5: 27
• Section 6: 32
• Section 7: 50
• Section 8: 53
• Section 9: 56
• Section 10: 63
• Section 11: 67
• Section 12: 83
• Section 13: 90
• Section 14: 115
• Section 15: 121
• Section 16: 137
• Section 17: 161
• Section 18: 162
• Section 19: 167
• Section 20: 172
• Section 21: 177
• Section 22: 183
• Section 23: 195
• Section 24: 220
• Section 25: 232
• Section 26: 234
• Section 27: 244
• Section 28: 251
• Section 29: 256
• Section 30: 292
• Section 31: 304
• Section 32: 318
• Section 33: 329
• Section 34: 330
• Section 35: 343
• Section 36: 344
• Section 37: 347
• Section 38: 350
• Section 39: 351

About the author

Václav Havel was born in Czechoslovakia in 1936. His plays have been produced around the world, and he is the author of many influential essays and speeches on totalitarianism, dissent and democratic renewal. He was a founding spokesman for Charter 77, and served as president of the Czech Republic until 2003. He lives in Prague.

Bibliographic information

• Title: To the Castle and Back
• Author: Vaclav Havel
• Translated by: Paul Wilson
• Publisher: Knopf Canada, 2011
• ISBN: 0307369420, 9780307369420
• Length: 400 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs; Biography & Autobiography / Political