...seems to be a theme. In the flashbacks to Nazi concentration camps there are deaths by gassing, the double homicide crime is a gassing, and then Honza turns on the gas from the heater to commit suicide.
Do the double homicide gassing and the suicidal gassing both stem from the gassing at concentration camps? Are they trying to mimic that kind of death? Or is it something else? Just a convenient way to kill/die without pain?
Monday, April 16, 2012
A Conversation with Ivan Klima
While looking on JSTOR for some information on Klima, I came upon an interview published in The New England Review. Below I have selected a few points that interested me the most, and the link to the full interview is at the end of the post.
The interviewer, Rob Trucks, talked to Klima in the Spring of 1999.
Trucks asked Klima what he thought the "Great Czech Novel" would be (as many say Huckleberry Finn is the "Great American Novel"). Klima said The Grandmother by Bozena Nemcova was the first novel in Czech literature as well as a "Bible of Czech literature." It is a collection of stories. He also says K. H. Macha is the greatest poet, with his greatest poem being "May," an epic poem (found here: http://www.lupomesky.cz/maj/may.html). But more interestingly, for later work, Klima says Kundera's The Joke and Svorkecky's The Cowards are great novels.
When speaking about Judge on Trial, Klima admitted that he hates it only because he rewrote it so many time. He said that the experiences in the novel are very autobiographical, but Adam doesn't equal Ivan.
Two quotes that stood out to me from the interview are:
- "Censorship may add to a book's appeal but it can add nothing to its wisdom." (excerpted from a fiction work of Klima's: My Golden Trades, "The Smuggler's Story")
We talked about censorship in class a couple of weeks ago and how that adds/detracts from a book's reading. It is very insightful that while more people want to read it because it is censored, it doesn't make the book any better. This relates to the government giving meaning to works of art just because they censor them, whether or not the author or artist intended for that meaning. The artist's work is what it is - other people cannot add to it by banning it. They just make the acquisition of it harder, and the whole experience more exciting for the reader.
- "...but people need literature. They need something in common that they can discuss, that will unite them."
This is something that transcends the situation of Communist Czechoslovakia. We can appreciate this idea today. It is obvious from the enormous fanbases of books, mostly young adult literature (Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Twilight, etc.), that people will come together through their reading. However the experience is different for readers today and readers of literature in Czechoslovakia during the regime. While we read as a leisurely activity and have fun joining groups or writing fan fictions, as well finding a support system, Czech's used literature to give them hope and share the common experience when it felt like they were alone.
link to the full interview: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40244462
The interviewer, Rob Trucks, talked to Klima in the Spring of 1999.
Trucks asked Klima what he thought the "Great Czech Novel" would be (as many say Huckleberry Finn is the "Great American Novel"). Klima said The Grandmother by Bozena Nemcova was the first novel in Czech literature as well as a "Bible of Czech literature." It is a collection of stories. He also says K. H. Macha is the greatest poet, with his greatest poem being "May," an epic poem (found here: http://www.lupomesky.cz/maj/may.html). But more interestingly, for later work, Klima says Kundera's The Joke and Svorkecky's The Cowards are great novels.
When speaking about Judge on Trial, Klima admitted that he hates it only because he rewrote it so many time. He said that the experiences in the novel are very autobiographical, but Adam doesn't equal Ivan.
Two quotes that stood out to me from the interview are:
- "Censorship may add to a book's appeal but it can add nothing to its wisdom." (excerpted from a fiction work of Klima's: My Golden Trades, "The Smuggler's Story")
We talked about censorship in class a couple of weeks ago and how that adds/detracts from a book's reading. It is very insightful that while more people want to read it because it is censored, it doesn't make the book any better. This relates to the government giving meaning to works of art just because they censor them, whether or not the author or artist intended for that meaning. The artist's work is what it is - other people cannot add to it by banning it. They just make the acquisition of it harder, and the whole experience more exciting for the reader.
- "...but people need literature. They need something in common that they can discuss, that will unite them."
This is something that transcends the situation of Communist Czechoslovakia. We can appreciate this idea today. It is obvious from the enormous fanbases of books, mostly young adult literature (Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Twilight, etc.), that people will come together through their reading. However the experience is different for readers today and readers of literature in Czechoslovakia during the regime. While we read as a leisurely activity and have fun joining groups or writing fan fictions, as well finding a support system, Czech's used literature to give them hope and share the common experience when it felt like they were alone.
link to the full interview: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40244462
Monday, April 9, 2012
Two Quotes from Judge on Trial
These are two quotes I picked up on from the early parts of Judge on Trial. Although they are from the first section of reading, I feel that they directly correspond to the main topic of the class.
“People are incapable of telling the truth about themselves.”
(page 24)
“…he explained to me that real strength is doing good
against hatred and misunderstanding.” (page 14)
Both of these quotes really have to do with Havel’s Power of
the Powerless. The first quote really has to do with living in the lie. It is
very easy for people to delude themselves into believing their own lies or to
be unaware that they aren’t being true to themselves. While Adam is
specifically talking about Honza being humiliated by his father, this statement
is true no matter what the situation. It is a statement that transcends the
situation of the characters in the book and even the book itself. It is just
true, and realizing this is a first step to living in the truth. The second
quote is what living in the truth is. It is the foundation of the dissident movement.
They tried to do good to help themselves and their people in the face of hatred
and misunderstanding. Real strength is not to fight violence with violence, but
to set the example of goodness in the face of violence, to hopefully inspire
others to do the same.
Interview: Ivan Klima
The following is a link to an interview of Ivan Klima on The Guardian website. He talks about his life in Czechoslovakia.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/02/ivan-klima-interview
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/02/ivan-klima-interview
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