before a stay in the Czech Republic four or five years ago. He was a beautiful writer. We had a friend who participated in the Prague Spring take us to the site of the Russian tanks near Wenceslas Square and tell us the whole story of the uprising and his escape, with friends. They managed to hide in a building off the square. We saw where Jan Palach set himself on fire. We learned about the Plastic People of the Universe, and drank a lot of bad Czech alcohol. Fascinating stuff.
I most admire Havel for having been a playwright and involved in the avant-garde art scene (most notably, in Fluxus) ... and then going on to transform the artist's creativity and intellect into governance.
My only proviso when reading this piece is not to think that we are somehow facing a similar situation. The Soviet dictatorship was truly repressive; we live in paradise by comparison to the long decades they suffered under Soviet rule. One good friend of ours (a crazy artist) escaped in the 60s and came to this country, embittered and firmly anti-Communist, when we were still wearing our Mao buttons and thinking that Communism was very cool. Since that time, while staying in the CR, we met the Czech wife of a colleague of my husband, for a dinner at their home. It had been her grandmother's, a famous dancer in the 30s. The home had been confiscated, and it was only after 1989 that the granddaughter was able to go through the long process of reclaiming it, in a shambles and occupied by a number of people whom, by law, they had to keep there for more than a decade. Our friends occupied a tiny portion of it while waiting for the attrition of the tenants. Recently, they've been able to reclaim it for themselves.
I'm just rambling and reminiscing about all things Czech right now. Thanks for posting.
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