Synopses & Reviews
Good-bye, Samizdat offers the first collection of the best of Czechoslovakia's samizdat, underground texts from the era 1948 through 1990. Divided into three sections, the volume includes fiction, cultural and political works, and philosophical essays. The writings reflect the thought of some of Czechoslovakia's best-known minds--Klima, Vaculik, and Havel--as well as others yet unknown in the West. Taken together, they capture the artistic and intellectual mood of a country situated at a focal point between East and West at a fascinating point in history.
Synopsis
Good-by, Samizdat offers the first collection of some of the best of underground texts. Divided into three sections, it includes fiction, cultural and political writing, and philosophical essays. The writings reflect the creative thought of some of the best minds of modern times, from the well-known - Ivan Klima, Ludvik Vaculik, Vaclav Havel - to writers who are as yet unknown in the West.
About the Author
Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz is professor of Germanic languages at the University of British Columbia. She is the author of The Silenced Theater: Czech Playwrights without a Stage and the editor of Drama Contemporary: Czechoslovakia.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Timothy Garton Ash
Editor's Introduction and Acknowledgments
Translators' Introduction
Forbidden Writers in Czechoslovakia
Part I. Literature
Igor Hajek, Samizdat Literature: An Introduction
Alexander Kliment, The Black Thread (1970)
Ivan Klíma, The Eyeglasses (1974)
Pavel Kohout, Golem II (1977)
Jan Trefulka, A Czech Fairy Tale (1976)
Jirí Gruša, Uncle Anton's Coat (1977)
Dominik Tatarka, Mystery (1979)
Karel Pecka, Mr. George (1982)
Lenka Procházková, Come Have a Taste (1982)
Eda Kriseová, Morning in Church (1988)
Egon Bondy (pseud.), Gottschalk (1988)
Milan Uhde, My Desk (1989)
Ludvík Vaculík, In Retirement (1986)
A Padlock for Castle Schwarzenberg (1987)
The Last Say (1989)
Bohumil Hrabal, The Magic Flute (1989)
Part II. Cultural & Sociopolitical Perspectives
Paul Wilson, Living Intellects: An Introduction
Jan Patocka, What Charter 77 Is and What It Is Not (1977)
Sidonius and Sakateka (pseud.), Dialogue on Questions (1985)
Milan Jungmann, Kunderian Paradoxes (1985)
Miroslav Kusý, We Central East Europeans (1977)
Zdenek Urbánek, Only a Postscript (1989)
Jan Lopatkam Bohumil Hrabal in 1989 (1989)
Eva Kanturková, On the Ethics of Palach's Deed (1989)
Jirina Šiklová, The "Gray Zone" and the Future of Dissent in Czechoslovakia (1989); Epilogue (1990)
Petr Fidelius (pseud.), The Mirror of Communist Discourse (1989)
Václav Havel, Second Wind (1976); Last Conversation (1977)
Part III. Philosophical Texts
Erazim Kohák, Czech Philosophy in Samizdat: An Introduction
Ivan M. Havel, Modes of Cognition (1985)
Zdenek Nebauer, On Hard and Soft Style in Philosophy (1985)
Milan Šimecka, On Uncertain Reality and the Possibility of an Agreement (1985)
Ladislav Hejdánek, The Conception of Truth and Its Meontological Preconditions (1985)
Martin Palouš, Philosophy as Personal Experience and the Others (1985)
Radim Palouš, "My" Philosophy (1985)
Tomáš Halík, Ego Dormio (1985)
Zdenek Kratochvil, Five Letters behind the Golden Curtain (1986)
Notes on Contributors