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SpecialVáclav Havel - 'Guardian Angel'
This play is vintage Havel, his only radio play, dating back to the first half of 1968, when he was at the height of his creative powers. Not long after it was completed, Soviet tanks brought an end to the reforms of the Prague Spring, and for two decades the play was left on the shelf. More
Czech BooksThe prison poet: remembering Ivan Martin Jirous
Last month was the end of an era in Czech poetry. The man who practically
embodied the poetic underground of the 1970s and 80s, Ivan Martin Jirous
– alias Magor, or Loony in English – died at the age of 67. Not only
was Magor one of best Czech poets of his generation, but also the driving
force behind the underground rock scene. He embodied the longing for
rebellion and freedom, as so-called “normalization” sucked the air out
of Czech and Slovak society. In Czech Books, David Vaughan talks to one of
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One on OneSlovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek on social unrest, fall of communism, and Miloš Forman films
The Slovenian thinker Slavoj Žižek has been described as the most
dangerous philosopher in the West. He criticizes global capitalism and
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book, entitled First Tragedy Then Farce. Czech Radio’s Petr Dudek spoke
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Current AffairsCzech underground legend Ivan Martin Jirous dies aged 67
One of the legends of the Czech underground, poet Ivan Martin Jirous, died
in Prague on Thursday at the age of 67. Ivan Jirous, or Magor – literally
“the crazy one” as he was affectionately called by his friends – was
perhaps best-known as the artistic manager and spiritual leader of the
underground band The Plastic People of the Universe, but this eternal rebel
was also a sensitive, contemplative poet and master of the Czech language. More
Current AffairsUnique 1980s dissident video magazine subject of new Czech TV documentary
On Tuesday, the public broadcaster Czech TV is airing the first part of a
new documentary series dedicated to Originální videojournal, a unique
video magazine established by Czech dissidents in the late 1980s. The
documentary offers some rare footage from dissident circles, as well as
reports about the Velvet Revolution in November 1989. More
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