Vaclav Havel: Living in Truth: Twenty-Two Essays Published on the Occasion of the Award of the Erasmus Prize to Vaclav Havel

Vaclav Havel is Czechoslovakia's leading playwright. For years he has been a victim of state repression. Now, as the spokesman of Civic Forum, he has become the international voice of the country undergoing extraordinary political change. He has been described (in The Times) as "The uncrowned King of Prague."Living In Truth is a witness to Havel's Struggle as a writer, and the essential testament to his beliefs.Contents: pt. 1. Six texts by Václav Havel --Letter to Dr Gustáv Husák --The power of the powerless --Six asides about culture --Politics and conscience --Thriller --An anatomy of reticence --pt. 2. Sixteen texts for Václav Havel --Catastrophe / Samuel Beckett --Courtesy towards God / Heinrich Böll --Prague : a poem, not disappearing / Timothy Garton Ash --Ex-prophets and storysellers / Ji?í Gruša --From Variations and reflections on topics in Václav Havel's prison letters / Ladislav Hejdánek --Citizen versus state / Harry Järv --The chaste centaur / Pavel Kohout --Conversations 36 / Iva Kotralá --Candide had to be destroyed / Milan Kundera --I think about you a great deal / Arthur Miller --When I was still living in Prague / Zdena Salivarová --The sorrowful satisfaction of the powerless / Milan Šime?ka --I saw Václav Havel for the last time / Josef Škvorecký --Introduction to The memorandum / Tom Stoppard --Letter to a prisoner / Zden?k Urb?nek --On the house / Lukvík Vaculík.