Word: czechoslovakia
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...ideal" conditions of the 1960s, freeing Czech directors from commercial constraint and political pressures as well, account in part for the emergence in Czechoslovakia of a dozen first class film directors of international recognition (winning two Oscars for The Shop on Mainstreet, by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos, and in 1968 for Mencl's Closely Watched Trains). When the Russian tanks rolled in and put an end to the Dubcek experiment of "socialism with a human face," Czech film directors, as well as many other people, were faced with the following choice: emigration abroad or "internal emigration." For most...
...country and continue their film careers in the West, especially in America where the chances to make films were best (Forman, Passer, Kadar and Weiss now live in New York). All found themselves caught in the following dilemma: to continue the kind of work they used to do in Czechoslovakia that won them international fame or to adopt the style of filmmaking of their adopted country...
...only now that the West is becoming acquainted with the extraordinary revival of Czech literature that took place during the 1960s as these remarkable works keep coming from Western publishers, along with books, written after the Russian invasion, that are banned from publication in Czechoslovakia. Contrary to the situation in cinema, we have here much more of a sense of the continuity of this literary trend. Movie production is a "public activity" which requires substantial material means; once the political conditions had changed, the production of "undesirable" directors was stopped. Writers are much more difficult to silence. They...
...Kundera. Vaculik and Kohout sensed the necessity to remain in their country. In touch with their people, even in this period of darkness. This is also reinforced by the shared feeling that they have a debt to pay. In 1948 Kohout and Kundera warmly welcomed the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia. They soon found the Stalinist frame too narrow for their creative work and though materially privileged, launched a decisive attack on the ruling party elite. Frustrated from the results of a "revolution from above" in 1948, they helped to bring about another one "from below...
Their works come to us at a time when no new literature worth reading is being published in Czechoslovakia. The "official" literature oscillates between two genres: trashy novels and political pamphlet. Mr. Muller can again serve us as the example of the first type, with his cheap would-be sexy novel. "With Elvira...