On the Eighty-Fifth Anniversary of Václav Havel. A Historiographic Review

Literature about Václav Havel, mainly monographies published over the last 30 years in Czech and English, is reviewed and classified including the first Russian-language book about him. Four of their interpretive models are identified in comparison with time intervals: apologetic, critical, neutralist, integral. V. Havel is characterized as a new type of politician, setting examples of political activity for a whole generation of politicians in many countries of the world, in particular, leaders of Colour Revolutions in all their diversity. In general, the interpretive models of V. Havel's biography have constantly changed, not disappearing completely in the course of what can conditionally be called waves of a kind of revisionism. On the rise of his career as a statesman, the apologetic model with elements of hagiography prevailed, on the second - critical with elements of denunciation. Since about 2003, the neutralist interpretive model has become the main one, and since 2013, the integral model, a line to revisionism in interpreting its political biography. With rare exceptions, the dominance of a particular model can be discovered in works about Havel, but only praise or condemnation is rare. Most authors primarily identify or reinterpret the documentary basis and do not seek unambiguous assessments, since Havel's political biography is extremely complex. The study of the processes of reception and interpretation of Havel's figure appears as a reflection of the complexity of political portraying of a person with a contradictory biography. The degree of divergence between high ideological and moral motivations, on the one hand, and methods of ideological manipulation - on the other, this figure is perhaps the most striking. It is noted that not a single study, if it is devoted to the "velvet" revolution, the "velvet" divorce, and even more so to the four terms of the presidency in Czechoslovakia/CSFR and then in the Czech Republic, does not do without the figure of Havel.

Keywords

Czech Republic, political biography, V. Havel, T.G. Masaryk, Charter 77, velvet revolution, collapse of Czecho-Slovakia

Received

27.08.2020

Publication date

07.12.2020

Number of characters

28219

Cite

GOST	Zadorozhnyuk E. On the Eighty-Fifth Anniversary of Václav Havel. A Historiographic Review // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2020. – Issue 6 C. 33-41 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640012689-5-1 (circulation date: 18.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640012689-5
MLA	Zadorozhnyuk, Ella "On the Eighty-Fifth Anniversary of Václav Havel. A Historiographic Review." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 6 (2020):33-41. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640012689-5
APA	Zadorozhnyuk E. (2020). On the Eighty-Fifth Anniversary of Václav Havel. A Historiographic Review. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (6), pp.33-41 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640012689-5

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 623

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Belyaev I. Vatslav Gavel. Zhizn' v istorii. M., 2020.

2. Zadorozhnyuk Eh. G. Vatslav Gavel: portret v inter'ere istoricheskoj ehpokhi // Slavyanovedenie. 2012. № 5. C. 13-31.

3. Bauer J. Václav Havel. Necenzurovaný životopis. Praha, 2003.

4. Duberstein J. A Velvet Revolution. Vaclav Havel and the Fall of Communism. Greensboro, 2006.

5. Hájek P. Smrt v sametu. Praha, 2012.

6. Havlíček J. Zmrtvýchvstání s T.G. Masarykem a Václavem Havlem. Praha, 1990.

7. Chrastilová B., Mikeš P. Prezident republiky Václav Havel a jeho vliv na československý a český právní řád. Praha, 2003.

8. Jana Klusáková a Petr Pithart rozmlouvají Nadoraz: o Havlovi, Klausovi, Mečiarovi a revoluci, která požírá své děti. Praha, 1992.

9. Kaiser D. Disident. Václav Havel 1936-1989. Praha - Litomyšl, 2009.

10. Kaiser D. Prezident. Václav Havel 1990-2003. Praha - Litomyšl, 2014.

11. Keane J. Vaclav Havel. A Political tragedy in six acts. London, 1999.

12. Keane J. Václav Havel. Politická tragédie v šesti dějstvích. Praha, 1999.

13. Kriseová E. Václav Havel. Životopis. Praha, 1991.

14. Mandler E. Oba moji prezidenti. Václav Havel a Václav Klaus. Praha, 2004.

15. Palouš R. Hovory z Havly. Dálkové rozhovory s Václavem Havlem a Ivanem M. Havlem. Středokluky, 1999.

16. Prečan V. V kradeném čase. Výběr za studií, článků a úvah z let 1973-1993. Brno, 1994.

17. Příležitostný portrét Václava Havla / Ed. A. Freimanová. Praha, 2013.

18. Putna M. C. Václav Havel. Duchovní portrét v rámu české kultury 20. století. Praha, 2012.

19. Rakušanová L. Václav a Dagmar Havlovi. Dva osudy v jednom svazku (autorizovaný životopis). Praha, 1997.

20. Rocamora C. Acts of Courage. Václav Havel’s Life in the Theater. A Biography. Hanover, 2005.

21. Ryantová M. a kol. Českoslovenští prezidenti. Praha - Litomyšl, 2016

22. Suk J. Politika jako absurdní drama. Václav Havel v letech 1975-1989. Praha, 2013.

23. Suk J. Konstituční, nebo existenciální revoluce? Václav Havel a Federální shromáždění 1989-1990. Studie a dokumenty. Praha, 2014.

24. Svora P. Sedm týdnů, které otřásly Hradem. Praha, 1998.

25. Špaček L. Deset let s Václavem Havlem. Praha, 2012

26. Václav Havel – Vílem Prečan. Korespondence (1983-1989) / Eds. V. Čelko, V. Prečan. Praha, 2011.

27. Žantovský M. Havel. Praha, 2014.