Open Letters

Open Letters


Selected Writings 1965 - 1990

Selected and Edited by Paul Wilson

 

Alfred A. Knopf, New York

 

Contents


Preface
Acknowledgments

Second Wind
On Evasive Thinking
On the Theme of an Opposition
Letter to Alexander Dubcek
"Dear Dr. Husak"
"It Always Makes Sense to Tell the Truth"
The Trial
Article 202
Article 203
The Power of the Powerless
Reports on My House Arrest
Two Letters from Prison
"I Take the Side of Truth"
Politics and Conscience
Six Asides About Culture
Thriller
Anatomy of a Reticence
Two Notes on Charter 77
Stories and Totalitarianism
Meeting Gorbachev
Farce, Reformability, and the Future of the World
Thinking About Frantisek K.
Testing Ground
A Word About Words
New Year's Address

Notes
Index


THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC.

Preface and translations copyright ® 1985, 1988, 1991 by Paul Wilson
"On the Theme of an Opposition," "Letter to Alexander Dubcek," "Farce, Reformability, and the Future of the World,' copyright ® 1991 by A. G. Brain.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York. Published simultaneously in Great Britain by Faber and Faber, Limited, London.

Czech originals copyright by Vaclav Havel. All rights reserved.

This edition published by arrangement with Rowohlt Verlag GmbH, Reinbek bei, Hamburg.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to publish these previous English translations:
"Thinking About Frantisek K.," "Testing Ground," and "A Word About Words," copyright ® 1988, 1989, 1990 by A. G. Brain.
"Six Asides About Culture" and "Anatomy of a Reticence," copyright ® 1985 by Erazim Kohak.
"Politics and Conscience," copyright ® 1985 by Erazim Kohak and Roger Scruton.
"'I Take the Side of Truth': An Interview with Antoine Spire" and "Meeting Gorbachev," copyright ® 1983, 1988 by George Theiner.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Havel, Vaclav.
Open letters: selected writings, 1965-1990 by Vclav Havel; selected and edited by Paul Wilson.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-679-40027-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
First American Edition