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[ excerpt ]
also by the author:
The Restoration of Order
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letters from prison
by Milan Šimečka
translated from the Czech and Slovak by Gerald Turner
foreword by Václav Havel
introduction by Jiřina Šiklová
afterword by Vilém Prečan
Next to Vaclav Havel, Milan Šimečka was the most important, and
most widely translated, dissident opposing Czechoslovakia's communist regime.
Many of his essays and articles appeared in leading American and British periodicals during the
1970s and 80s, and his book, The Restoration of Order (London:
Verso, 1984), is considered a brilliant analysis of real socialism
and the neo-Stalinist normalization policy instituted under Gustav Husak.
Simecka was imprisoned from 1981-82 under Paragraph 98 of the
Criminal Code ("Subversion of the Republic"). His crime:
smuggling his texts out of the country to be published abroad.
The letters in this volume were written during his stay in prison.
In them he was not allowed to mention politics, so he wrote about
people, love, and human relations. The selection of letters presented
here bear witness to his attitude to other people, to his imprisonment
and the period in which he lived, as well as his personal philosophy.
They contain philosophical reflections as well as practical advice
to his sons and words of encouragement to his wife. Similar to
Havel's Letters to Olga,
Šimečka's Letters from Prison give us a glimpse into the difficult struggle undertaken
by Czechoslovak dissidents in opposition to a Soviet-styled regime
that was considered the most hard-line in Eastern Europe.
I know from my own experience how important
writing letters can be for a prisoner. It is not simply
contact with home and a moment to imagine being back among
one's nearest and dearest, but – particularly in the
case of intellectuals – it also tends to be an opportunity
– in an extreme situation – to reflect on oneself,
the world, human responsibility and values. Frequently it
gives rise to texts with a particular intrinsic authenticity.
This applies to the letters of my late friend Milan Simecka.
I am therefore pleased that these letters are at last being
published in English. |
— Václav Havel
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To claim that dissident writing is a proof of human strength in the face of adversity has become a cliché. Yet Letters from Prison,
a selection of prison correspondence of the Czechoslovak writer Milan Simecka (1930- 1990), is just that. The moral decency and human warmth that emanate from the
collection, compiled and translated by Gerald Turner, make it seem inconceivable that the letters were written behind cold prison walls.
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— Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs
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Milan Simecka was one of the great figures in modern Czech and Slovak history ... a man of courage and of wisdom (and of great good humor) who contributed much to
the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia. |
— H. Gordon Skilling
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The book offers descriptions of routine
activities ... rendered so poignantly that the author seems
to transcend his prison walls. |
— Publishers Weekly
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Milan Simecka's Letters from Prison is a moving example of the epistolary form at its finest. |
— The Prague Post
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Milan Simecka's philosophical prison letters belong with the best of the genre. |
— Gwendolyn Albert, Central Europe Review
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Milan Smecka was a pathfinder of the Czech dissident movement ... Tolerance, [he] teaches, offers its own kind of freedom — a lesson for writers and nations alike.
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— Rain Taxi
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ISBN 9788086264035
172 pp.
14.5 x 20.5 cm
softcover with flaps
14 B/W photographs
essays
publication:
April 2002
order from:
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Central Books
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