Václav Havel and the Language of the Absurd

The thaw in political and cultural matters in Czechoslovakia in the early 1960's resulted in a number of noteworthy achievements in literature. The drama has been marked by an especially strong revival, and a number of plays have even penetrated to West Europeantheaters. The most remarkable among the plays are those by Viclav Havel, who has quickly become internationally the most successful Czech dramatist since Karel Capek. The work of Havel epitomizes the state of Czech literature in the middle 1960's, which is characterized by two main features: first, an orientation toward the West in general philosophical questions and literary techniques, and, secondly, an outspokenly critical attitude toward Stalinism and its contemporary vestiges. Havel's work would be unthinkable without the influence of the so-called theater of the absurd, but at the same time it is deeply involved in an examination of the social ills of Czechoslovakia. Thus far Havel has written two major plays, Zahradni slavnost (The Garden Party, 1963) and Vyrozumrni (The Memorandum, 1965), which will be discussed in this article.'

Absurdism · Art · Linguistics · Literature · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Philosophy