Guinea Pigs and the Czech Novel "Under Padlock" in the 1970s: From the Modern Absolutism to the Postmodernist Absolute

Guinea Pigs and the Czech Novel "Under Padlock" in the 1970s: From the Modern Absolutism to the Postmodernist Absolute Bronislava Volek Indiana University Emil Volek Arizona State University I have deliberately scattered all sorts oftraps behind me so that I would never be able to go back. I am weak, yes; I am afraid, yes; but my fears are equally strong in all directions___ There is great freedom in this — to be able to go in all directions with equal danger. Now at least I can go forward ofmy own free will; that is my reward for all-embracing fear. (L. Vaculik, The Politics of Culture, p. 184) I People in Prague say half-jokingly that Kafka's nightmares sound rather like innocent humoresques in comparison to their everyday "normal" — or as the official terminology puts it — "normalized" life.1 The fateful year of 1968, with all the wellknown events that terminated the short-lived "Prague Spring," dealt a traumatic blow to Czechoslovakian society and to its cultural life. Not only did many artists flee into exile, but the majority of those who remained at home were forced from their jobs and were deprived of the means for the public circulation of their works. They were officially excommunicated from public life, but yet they did not resign themselves to silence and obliteration. Thus, a paradoxical situation arose: amidst the void of the official "cultural life" there sprang up a boom of underground literature of all genres, especially of fiction. As a matter of fact, after the period of the 1920s and 1930s, which produced such remarkable authors as Karel Capek, Vladislav Vanïura, Karel Polaïek, Jaroslav Durych, Jaroslav HaSek, Ivan Olbracht, a second "golden age" of Czech narrative emerged in this century» The roots of this boom extend as far back as the late 1950s and especially the 1960s, when a gradually more and more relaxed 1. We would like to thank our colleagues and friends David W. Foster and Maureen Ahern for their generous help with the English version of this article and Professor Thomas G. Winner for numerous suggestions and improvements of the manuscript. Bronislava Volek and Emil Volek21 "cultural politics" of the Party permitted new developments in fiction in conjunction with the "new wave" in Czech cinema, generating a reserve of mature creative forces for the future. Authors who distinguished themselves included Josef Skvorecky (1924) whose novel Zbab&ci (The Cowards, 1957)2 ruffled the happily stagnant waters of the "socialist realism" of the late 1950s; Bohumil Hrabal (1914) with his Perlifka na dn? (The Little Pearl at the Bottom, 1963), a collage of experimental texts with a surrealist streak; his novella Ostfe sledované vlaky (Closely Watched Trains, 1965)3 also became a film scenario, and his short stories represented probably the single most important contribution to Czech fiction of the 1960s; Vladimir Paral (1932) with his satiric experimental novel Soukromâ vichrice (A Private Hurricane, 1966); Ludvik Vaculik (1926) with the anti-Stalinist novel Sekyra (The Axe, 1966);4 Milan Kundera (1929) with the also anti-Stalinist novel Zert (The Joke, 1967).5 Practically all the works of these autors represented a major literary and cultural event, sometimes even a political upheaval.6 Developments peaked in the year 1968 with its unheard of, albeit short-lived political and artistic freedom (e.g., the abolishment of Party censorship). To give up this freedom once tasted was not easy for most and was impossible for some. On the other hand, what also contributed powerfully to the boom of 1970s was the blind, vengeful, and harsh cultural policy introduced by neo-Stalinist elements after the Russian takeover. As a consequence, a situation was created almost without precedence: practically all writers of quality were expelled from the 2.English translation, New York: Grove Press, 1970; also in Neglected Books of the 20th Century, New York: Ecco Press, 1980. 3.English translation, New York: Grove Press, 1968; the film script, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971. A volumeof his short stories was translated under the title The Death o/ Mr. Baltisberger (Garden City: Doubleday, 1975). 4.English translation, London: André Deutsch, 1973. 5.English translation, New York: Coward-McCann, 1969. 6.The rebellion...