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On December 29, 1989, Václav Havel was elected president at Prague Castle. He was considered a symbol of the end of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and the birth of a new democratic state. The world's attention was focused on him because he was a playwright who, until a few months earlier, had been in prison.
 
Havel's plays are occasionally referred to as the Theater of the Absurd. One of the motifs of his plays is the uncertainty of values and system, as he describes it as "the lack of solid soil under one's feet." The sense of uncertainty is most evident in his plays in terms of verbal communication.
 
In "The Memorandum," which premiered in 1965 at Prague's Balustrade Theater, people are confused by an artificial language known as Ptydepe that is introduced into an office. Ptydepe has a complicated structure to avoid misunderstandings, and owing to the difficulties involved in learning the language, a specialized staff member is assigned the task of translation. Nonetheless, a certificate is required to obtain permission for translation, and the situation goes round in circles. Thus, this play demonstrates not only the absurdity of bureaucracy but also the essential features of language: its redundancy and polysemy.
 
In August 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia, forcing the democratic movement of the "Prague Spring" to change direction. Havel was deprived of the opportunity to publish his works. He was put in a situation where he could write a play but not see it performed.
 
Under these circumstances, he wrote "Audience" (1975) for his close friends. It is a one-act play consisting of a dialogue between Vaněk, a playwright who works temporarily at a brewery, and the brewmaster. However, unlike his other works, which are studded with intellectual vocabulary, it is a humanistic presentation of language under absurd conditions. The playwright, reminiscent of Havel, is unable to publish his work and is employed at a brewery, while the brewmaster, who has devoted himself to brewing beer, is having trouble writing reports to the authorities. Eventually, a mysterious situation arises in which the person to whom the report should be addressed is asked to write the report.
 
Havel also wrote essays, such as "The Power of the Powerless." The common element in both his essays and plays is his keen insight of language. Some expressions can inspire those who believe that they are powerless while others can produce moments of laughter. Politics and culture seem to exist on two different levels, but Havel continues to show us through his various works that they are bound together by language.
 

(Written by ABE Kenichi, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology / 2023)

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Related Info

Interviews:
„I v dnešním Japonsku máme politiky, kte?í mluví prázdnou ?e?í,“ ?íká p?ekladatelka Minami Toyoshima  (knihovnavaclavahavla | Jan 13, 2023)

 
Lectures:
Czech literature and Czech Studies Beyond Europe and America “Hašek, Havel, Hrabal… and?”  (Václav Havel Library, Ostrovn  June 29, 2022)

 
Online p?ednáška bohemisty a p?ekladatele Kenichi Abeho – Úvod do ?eské literatury 20. století (2/2)  (Japan Czech Friendship Association  Feb 24, 2022)

 
Book Info:
Recently Published in Japan  (EU: narrating eu:rope)

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