VÁCLAV HAVEL
Václav Havel was a political dissenter, a writer, and a leader. Although his work as a playwright is seen as less significant when compared to his political career, Havel's brilliant Avante-Garde absurdist works shed light not only on his personal political ideology but on the zeitgeist of Czechoslovakia and the world at the time.
BACKGROUND
Václav Havel was born October 5th, 1936 to a wealthy Prague family. His grandfather and father were construction moguls who both made significant contributions to the architectural landscape of Prague. Václav Havel’s father, Václav Maria, was a typical bourgeoisie patriarch who was a strong advocate of intellectualism and moral decency. Václav Havel’s mother, Božena, was a strong and intellectual matriarch and was even a minister in the Czechoslovakian government for a short period of time. Havel had a privileged and happy childhood against a backdrop of immense political and social turmoil. For example, in 1938 Czechoslovakia lost the Sudetenland to Hitler in ‘peace’ agreements and in 1939, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. The turmoil continued after World War II as Czechoslovakia became communist. As a wealthy family with liberal and democratic values, the Havel family faced great animosity and discrimination from the Soviet regime that Havel fought back against his entire life. Havel was denied a formal education in a field of humanities because of his “bourgeois” status. Instead, he was forced to pursue an education in chemical technology because that was deemed to be a working-class pursuit. It was only through night school that Havel was able to stretch his mind and find those who shared the same interests as him, such as philosophy, theater, economics, and politics. Because he could not engage in politics, Havel turned to theater to express his frustrations with the political system. In 1957, Havel was drafted into the army and to elevate boredom, so he said, Havel started a regimental amateur theater troupe. Though the plays he wrote, such as the The Good Soldier Švejk, were more vaudeville in style and farcical than his later more ‘truthful’ work, this use of theater as a means of expression was a significant first for Havel. After leaving the army, Havel was left adrift and languished for a while not knowing what to do with his life. It was then that he discovered the Theater on the Balustrade that specialized in intellectual experimentation. In 1963, Havel wrote his first full length produced play, The Garden Party, which, in a very Brechtian style, was a scathing attack on the Communist government without being heavy-handed or obvious to the officials that censured such things. The play was soon followed by The Memorandum and The Increased Difficulty of Concentration. In 1968, The Memorandum was also brought to The Public Theater in New York, which further established Havel as a world-renowned playwright and social commentator. The reason Havel was able to succeed these first few years of his career was because unlike the USSR, Czechoslovakia started its Communist regime with Perestroika and Glasnost (aka openness). This allowed room for artistic endeavors and self-expression. The government began taking away more and more rights causing the Prague Spring in 1968. Havel did not take a significant part in the Prague Spring, however, and only became involved in the revolution after the Prague Spring ended. It was after the repression of the of Prague Spring that Havel seized control of the resistance. Havel started broadcasting anti-communist rhetoric but is soon barred from writing and editing and forced into manual labour. In January of 1977, Havel became the first the first leader of the Charter 77 dissident group that led to his imprisonment on October 18th, 1977. In 1978, Havel published his political manifesto “The Power of the Powerless” which, being considered his most important work, defined and analyzed the ‘post-totalitarian’ system which in turn explained the end goal of his political dissent. Because of this manifesto, in October 1979 Havel was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison. After his release, Havel continued to lead the opposition against the communist party. When the Communist regime fell in December of 1989, Václav Havel was chosen as president of Czechoslovakia. Then, as Czechoslovakia crumbled, Havel was elected president of the newly formed Czech Republic on January 26th, 1993. Havel served as president from 1993 until 2003, facing much criticism from his citizens but immense praise abroad. This is because Havel was what could be considered a political genius. He knew that he could not cut corners when forming his new country even though Czech citizens wanted better lives immediately. After he stepped down as president, Havel published the play Leaving, which was a satire based off of Shakespeare’s King Lear and Chekhov’s play The Cherry Orchard. The play was also made into a film which was Havel’s lifelong dream but the film was a flop and was met with harsh criticism. After being sick for many years Václav Havel died on December 18th, 2011.
Rocamora, Carol. Acts of Courage: Václav Havel's Life in the Theater. Hanover: Smith and Kraus, 2005.
Žantovský, Michael. Havel: A Life. London: Atlantic Books, 2015.
FAMILY
FATHER
Václav Maria, Havel’s father, was a Rotarian and a Freemason who upheld Masarykian humanism. While not politically active, he was politically connected and surrounded himself with other educated men such as journalists and writers.
MOTHER
Havel’s mother, Božena, was also a highly educated woman who dabbled in music, the arts, and science. Božena was Havel’s first supporter when it came to the arts. What is fascinating is that even at a young age, Havel’s paintings and drawings can be seen to have topical significance. For example, he drew king and queens, machines and even the likeness of Adolf Hitler showing that his mother’s political consciousness was reflected onto her children. Božena was not a very loving mother, however, and as Havel grew older, they grew apart. The final straw in their relationship was the fact that Božena disapproved of Havel’s first love.
WIFE OLGA
Havel was also greatly influenced by his first wife, Olga Šplíchalová. They met when Havel was only seventeen and many say that Havel would not have been the same man without her. While Havel’s mother was disappointed that he chose to pursue theater instead of receiving a higher education, Olga was in complete support. They worked together at the Balustrade and shared everything: a love a Western culture, theater, and rock n’ roll. She was not considered intellectual, sexy, or well-connected causing many to wonder what attracted Havel to her. Havel loved her because of her brutal honesty and her ability to read people. They were both outcasts and together they rebelled against the repressive regime. When Havel was in prison, Olga became his eyes and ears on the outside but, at the same time, was an independent woman. Olga stood soundly by Havel as his conscience, critic, supporter, emotional and spiritual guide, and personal dramaturge until she died of cancer in 1996.
*** One important caveat to make is that while both of these women influenced Havel as a person, it is unclear whether they influenced his portayal of women in his plays. There is very little written about the women in Havel’s plays or his opinion of women in general. In his book Anatomy of Reticence Havel says, “I do not wish to ridicule feminism; I know little about it and am prepared to believe that it is far from being the invention of a few hysterical women, bored housewives, or cast-off mistresses. Still, I have to note that in our country, even though the position of women is incomparably worse than in the West, feminism seems simply ‘dada’.” This shows that while Havel was influenced by women, he was not a radical feminist either in his plays or in his political rhetoric.
Rocamora, Carol. Acts of Courage: Václav Havel's Life in the Theater. Hanover: Smith and Kraus, 2005.
Žantovský, Michael. Havel: A Life. London: Atlantic Books, 2015.
PERSONALITY
Václav Havel was an activist at heart and a brilliant visionary. From a young age, he had a concrete vision of the democratic society he wanted to create. Havel was tolerant, responsible, moral, passionate, and sophisticated. One powerful metaphor likened him to carbon because of its remarkable ability to coalesce with other elements in seemingly endless combinations creating ever-new possibilities. This comparison is apt because it shows Havel's ability to absorb ideas from diverse sources as well as connect and unite different personalities, ranging from diverse representatives in the realm of high politics. What made him stand out was his ability to understand the underlying problems of the human condition which is shocking given his lack of a formal education. At the same time, it is important to understand that after his death, Václav Havel became somewhat of a myth and a fairytale. In many biographies, he is portrayed as this amazing and all powerful savior of Eastern Europe when in reality he faced an immense amount of criticism throughout his presidency and after. However, since his death, the Czech Republic has become passive and intellectually hollowed and internationally there is as a lack of bold political action that Václav Havel embodied.
Ditrych, Ondřej, Vladimír Handl, Nik Hynek, and Vít Střítecký. 2013. Understanding Havel? Communist and Post-Communist Studies 46 (3): 407-17
COMMUNIST CZECHOLOVAKIA
At the end of World War II, Czechoslovakia was left deciding what type of new government it wanted to create. Through increasing pressure from Stalin, the Communist party took control in February 1948. The party’s main goal was to consolidate and extend the party’s monopoly of power through a one-party dictatorship. One significant reform was the creation of ‘class enemies’. Anyone who did not fit in the Party’s narrow image was labeled an enemy of the state; Havel and his family were among these ‘enemies’. Private ownership and enterprise were almost completely eliminated while intellectual and artistic pursuits were heavily regulated. From 1953 to 1967, times became a bit more peaceful. There was increased economic stability, de-Stalinization measures were implemented, and the state started to become more socialist. Indeed, in July of 1960, Czechoslovakia became the first country to become a socialist state and was officially called Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. However, this small move toward freedom was not enough for the people. From January to August of 1968, Eastern Europe went through a period of intellectual change, though very little policy reform occurred. In response, The Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20th 1968 which was the largest mobilization of troops since World War 11. This invasion ushered in a strict communist regime that normalized repressive and inhumane behavior. Through surveillance and violence, the government was able to have complete control over its citizens. That is, until Vaclav Havel came to the political foreground. As mentioned earlier, Havel incited dissidence through his writing and with the creation of Charter 77. Starting in the late 70s and going into the late 80s, there were four main factors that caused the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia. First, the centrally planned economy was failing and the quality of life was deteriorating. Second, with the help of Havel, there was a consolidation of dissident groups into one united front. Third, the Communist party was losing its cohesion and tensions began to grow among officials. Finally, Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost and perestroika weakened the normalization of communist policies. In 1989, communism collapsed in Czechoslovakia, ushering in an age of democracy and reform.
McDermott, Kevin. Communist Czechoslovakia, 1945-89: A Political and Social History. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
CZECH THEATER
After World War II, there were an immense amount of restrictions placed on theater in eastern Europe. In 1956, these restrictions were lessened and experimental theater flourished in Czechoslovakia. One influential figure was designer Josef Svoboda who worked with screens to introduce both live and still images on stage. He would then use these screens to create a flexible stage that could change scene to scene. Svoboda also developed platforms that could move vertically, horizontally, and laterally to rapidly alter the special relations of the acting space. Svoboda is one of the best known and most influential designers in the world and he did much to draw the world’s attention to Czech theater as a whole. Starting in the 50s, there was a rise in small experimental theaters such as The Theater on the Balustrade where Havel produced his plays. These plays started to focus on the problems of the common people and they reflected existential themes, though they remained rooted in traditional realistic forms. The plays reflected a growing spirit of skepticism and interest in individualism. Chekhov’s influence on Czech theater was very strong. This is evident in the plays like A Sunday in August by František Hrubín, Their Day by Josef Topol, and The Owners of the Keys by Milan Kundera which are all about the private and personal lives of the characters instead of the larger ideology or class struggle of the time. In the 60s, there was a return of inventiveness and harsh satire. These satires usually employed grotesque, absurd models of social actualities to underline the abuses of the communist regime. Almost all of these satires tackle the idea of power and how it can seduce and destroy. Czech writers were fascinated with the way humans could be controlled and repressed and this is reflected in almost all of the theater of the time.
Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre. Harlow: Pearson, 2014.
Burian, Jarka. Modern Czech Theatre: Reflector and Conscience of a Nation. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2000.
HAVEL'S THEATER STYLE
Václav Havel was an absurdist playwright who also used the Czech theater of the appeal to create discourse on the Communist Regime. While plays were not Havel’s primary medium for expression, they allowed him to explore his ideas in a more accessible form. Because Havel was writing plays during a time of intense censorship, he had to use language delicately and adeptly. In his two most famous plays, The Garden Party and The Memorandum, Havel takes the idea of language one step further and makes it a part of the plot. In the former play, the main character pretends to fit in with the bureaucrats by adopting their language but in the end he loses his own identity. In the latter, a company creates a fake language in order to increase efficiency but in the end, it dehumanizes every character. Both of these plays are significant because they use a bizarre form to create subtle meaning. For those attuned to the political turmoil in the audience, it would have been clear that Havel was commenting on how the Communist Party controls language and that he was predicting the disastrous outcome it will have. The intellectual elite of Czechoslovakia responded with enthusiasm to Havel’s plays. Famous director and screenwriter Miloš Forman said, “What a revelation it was! Out of the blue, here was something so original, so new, like nothing before it. As thrilled as we were, we couldn’t show to much because the Communists might smell danger.” Havel’s plays were relatable to anyone who had ever been manipulated or oppressed. After the show, many would gather in a bar behind the theater to discuss the plays and their wider social implications. Though only a small movement at first, it was these intellectuals that Havel would lead to overthrow the Communist Regime.
Danaher, David S. Reading Václav Havel. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.
Rocamora, Carol. Acts of Courage: Václav Havel's Life in the Theater. Hanover: Smith and Kraus, 2005.
Žantovský, Michael. Havel: A Life. London: Atlantic Books, 2015.
WORKS
PLAYS
Life Ahead/You Have Your Whole Life Ahead of You, 1959, with Karel Brynda
Motormorphosis, 1960/1961, a sketch from Autostop
Ela, Hela, and the Hitch, 1960/1961, a sketch for Autostop; discarded from the play, lost; found in 2009; published in 2011
An Evening with the Family, 1960
Hitchhiking, 1961, (Autostop), with Ivan Vyskočil
The Best Years of Missis Hermanová, 1962, with Miloš Macourek
The Garden Party,1963
The Memorandum, 1965
The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, 1968
Butterfly on the Antenna, 1968
Guardian Angel, 1968
Conspirators, 1971
The Beggar's Opera, 1975
Audience, 1975, – a Vanӗk play
Unveiling, 1975 – a Vanӗk play
Mountain Hotel, 1976
Protest, 1978 – a Vanӗk play
Mistake, 1983
Largo Desolato, 1984
Temptation, 1985
Redevelopment, 1987
The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig, 1987; published in 2010; premiered in 2010, co-authored by Vladimír Morávek
Tomorrow, 1988,
Leaving, play 2007, movie 2011
Dozens of Cousins, 2010, a Vanӗk play, a short sketch/sequel to Unveiling
POEMS
“Quivers I & II”, 1954
“First Promissory Notes”, 1955
“Spaces and Times”, 1956
“At the Edge of Spring (Poetry Cycle)”, 1956
“Anticodes”, 1964
BOOKS
The Power of the Powerless (essay published in 1878, book published in 1985)
Living in Truth, 1986
Letters to Olga, 1988
Disturbing the Peace,1991
Open Letters, 1991
Summer Meditations, 1992/93
Towards a Civil Society, 1994
The Art of the Impossible, 1998
To the Castle and Back, 2007
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WRITTEN SOURCES
Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre. Harlow: Pearson, 2014.
Burian, Jarka. Modern Czech Theatre: Reflector and Conscience of a Nation. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2000.
Danaher, David S. Reading Václav Havel. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.
Ditrych, Ondřej, Vladimír Handl, Nik Hynek, and Vít Střítecký. 2013. Understanding Havel? Communist and Post-Communist Studies 46 (3): 407-17
McDermott, Kevin. Communist Czechoslovakia, 1945-89: A Political and Social History. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Rocamora, Carol. Acts of Courage: Václav Havel’s Life in the Theater. Hanover: Smith and Kraus, 2005.
Žantovský, Michael. Havel: A Life. London: Atlantic Books, 2015.
IMAGES
Corbis. "The Playwright in 1976.” Digital image. Vaclav Havel: A Life in Pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel-life-in-pictures.
Havla, Ivana M. "Fotografie Boženy Havlové Z Roku 1935." Digital image. Wikipedia.com. https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Božena_Havlová#/media/File:Božena_Havlová.jpg.
Holomicek, Bohdan. "Vaclav Havel in 1975 at His Country Cottage, Called Hradecek, in North Bohemia." Digital image. Vaclav Havel's Legacy, Through The Lenses Of Friends. https://www.rferl.org/a/24801989.html.
Jeff Gilbert/Rex Features. "In London in 2009” Digital image. Vaclav Havel: A Life in Pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel-life-in-pictures.
Kotek/AFP/Getty Images. "Cooking at his home in Hragecek in1960.” Digital image. Vaclav Havel: A Life in Pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel-life-in-pictures.
Kotek/AFP/Getty Images. "Young Havel in the 50s." Digital image. Vaclav Havel: A Life in Pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel-life-in-pictures.
Lubomir, Kotek/AFP/Getty Images. " Havel with Ladislav Lis (left) and Rudolf Batek (second right) - both members of Charter 77 - amid a crowd of demonstrators celebrating the 40th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights in 1988 in Prague.” Digital image. Vaclav Havel: A Life in Pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel-life-in-pictures.
Malloy, Kaoime E. "Memorandum Renderings." Digital image. The Memorandum by Vaclav Havel. http://www.kaoimemalloy.com/memorandum.html.
Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Image. " During the shooting of his film Leaving in the village of Ceska Skalice in 2010.” Digital image. Vaclav Havel: A Life in Pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel-life-in-pictures.
Misroslav Zajíc/Corbis. "Havel in1989.” Digital image. Vaclav Havel: A Life in Pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel-life-in-pictures.
Misroslav Zajíc/Corbis. "Vaclav Havel and Ladislav Adamec, the last Communist leader of Czechoslovakia, shake hands in 1989.” Digital image. Vaclav Havel: A Life in Pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel-life-in-pictures.
"Motomorphosis." Digital image. Celebrating the Life and Art of Václav Havel. http://untitledtheatre.com/havel/essays-multimedia.html.
"Olga Havlová, Née Šplíchalová (11 June 1933 – 27 January 1996), the First Wife of Václav Havel." Digital image. Wikipedia.com. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Havlová#/media/File:Olga_Havlová.jpg.
Peter Turnley/Corbis. "The thwarted Communist reformer Alexander Dubcek watches as Havel speaks to a crowd in Prague during the velvet revolution in 1989.” Digital image. Vaclav Havel: A Life in Pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel-life-in-pictures.
Singer, Phillip. "Vaclav Havel in 2009." Digital image. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/world/europe/vaclav-havel-dissident-playwright-who-led-czechoslovakia-dead-at-75.html.
"The Garden Party." Digital image. The Garden Party. https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/en/show/5869.
"Václav Maria Havel." Digital image. Václav Maria Havel. http://www.lmost.cz/vaclav-maria-havel/.
Wax, Roxana. "JOSEF SVOBODA – LIGHT AND SHADOWS." Digital Images. Graphicine. Accessed May 26, 2018. http://www.graphicine.com/josef-svoboda-light-and-shadows/.