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To the Castle and Back: Reflections on My Strange Life as a Fairy-Tale Hero
An astonishingly candid memoir from the acclaimed, dissident playwright elected President after the dramatic Czechoslovakian Velvet Revolution — one of the most respected political figures of our time.
As writer and statesman, Václav Havel played an essential part in the profound changes that occurred in Central Europe in the last decades of the twentieth century. In this most intimate memoir, he writes about his transition from outspoken dissident and political prisoner to a player on the international stage in 1989 as newly elected president of Czechoslovakia after the ousting of the Soviet Union, and, in l993, as president of the newly formed Czech Republic.
Havel gives full rein to his impassioned stance against the devastation wrought by communism, but the scope of his concern in this engrossing memoir extends far beyond the circumstances he faced in his own country. The book is full of anecdotes of his interactions with world figures: offering a peace pipe to Mikhail Gorbachev, meditating with the Dali Lama, confessing to Pope John Paul II and partying with Bill and Hilary Clinton. Havel shares his thoughts on the future of the European Union and the role of national identity in today’s world. He explains why he has come to change his mind about the war in Iraq, and he discusses the political and personal reverberations he faces because of his initial support of the invasion. He writes with equal intelligence and candour about subjects as diverse as the arrogance of western power politics, the death of his first wife and his own battle with lung cancer.
Woven through are internal memos he wrote during his presidency that take us behind the scenes of the Prague Castle – the government’s seat of power – showing the internal workings of the office and revealing Havel’s mission to act as his country’s conscience, and even, at times, its chief social convenor.
Written with characteristic eloquence, wit and well-honed irony combined with an unfailing sense of wonder at the course his life has taken, To the Castle and Back is a revelation of one of the most important political figures of our time.
As writer and statesman, Václav Havel played an essential part in the profound changes that occurred in Central Europe in the last decades of the twentieth century. In this most intimate memoir, he writes about his transition from outspoken dissident and political prisoner to a player on the international stage in 1989 as newly elected president of Czechoslovakia after the ousting of the Soviet Union, and, in l993, as president of the newly formed Czech Republic.
Havel gives full rein to his impassioned stance against the devastation wrought by communism, but the scope of his concern in this engrossing memoir extends far beyond the circumstances he faced in his own country. The book is full of anecdotes of his interactions with world figures: offering a peace pipe to Mikhail Gorbachev, meditating with the Dali Lama, confessing to Pope John Paul II and partying with Bill and Hilary Clinton. Havel shares his thoughts on the future of the European Union and the role of national identity in today’s world. He explains why he has come to change his mind about the war in Iraq, and he discusses the political and personal reverberations he faces because of his initial support of the invasion. He writes with equal intelligence and candour about subjects as diverse as the arrogance of western power politics, the death of his first wife and his own battle with lung cancer.
Woven through are internal memos he wrote during his presidency that take us behind the scenes of the Prague Castle – the government’s seat of power – showing the internal workings of the office and revealing Havel’s mission to act as his country’s conscience, and even, at times, its chief social convenor.
Written with characteristic eloquence, wit and well-honed irony combined with an unfailing sense of wonder at the course his life has taken, To the Castle and Back is a revelation of one of the most important political figures of our time.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
57 people are currently reading
762 people want to read
About the author
Václav Havel
269 books495 followersVáclav Havel was a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). He wrote over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally. He received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, the Order of Canada, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award, and the Ambassador of Conscience Award. He was also voted 4th in Prospect Magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals. He was a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.
Beginning in the 1960s, his work turned to focus on the politics of Czechoslovakia. After the Prague Spring, he became increasingly active. In 1977, his involvement with the human rights manifesto 'Charter 77' brought him international fame as the leader of the opposition in Czechoslovakia; it also led to his imprisonment. The 1989 "Velvet Revolution" launched Havel into the presidency. In this role he led Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic to multi-party democracy. His thirteen years in office saw radical change in his nation, including its split with Slovakia, which Havel opposed, its accession into NATO and start of the negotiations for membership in the European Union, which was attained in 2004.
Beginning in the 1960s, his work turned to focus on the politics of Czechoslovakia. After the Prague Spring, he became increasingly active. In 1977, his involvement with the human rights manifesto 'Charter 77' brought him international fame as the leader of the opposition in Czechoslovakia; it also led to his imprisonment. The 1989 "Velvet Revolution" launched Havel into the presidency. In this role he led Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic to multi-party democracy. His thirteen years in office saw radical change in his nation, including its split with Slovakia, which Havel opposed, its accession into NATO and start of the negotiations for membership in the European Union, which was attained in 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
May 14, 2014
This is a curiously effective and affecting book, perhaps because of its very informality. The "Castle" in the title is Prague Castle, which has been a seat of government for the Czechs for hundreds of years. Václav Havel was the last President of Czechoslovakia (the first after the fall of Communism) and the first President of the Czech Republic (after Slovakia opted for its own independence).
To the Castle and Back: Reflections on My Strange Life as a Fairy-Tale Hero consists of a series of notes made to his staff between 1993 and 2003 which were discovered on his computer. Then there were sections written in 2005 from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington during a long stay there, and finally a running interview with Karel Hvizd'ala which threads its way through the book. It shows some of the big issues that confronted Havel during his tenure at the Castle, such as the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Czech Republic's entry into NATO. It also shows some of the small issues that endlessly plagued him, such as the following:
I was curious to discover that Havel, despite being an internationally known playwright, was petrified whenever he had to begin writing anything. And he appears to have written all his own speeches!
Particularly impressive was Havel's answer as to what his credo was as the President of the Republic:
To the Castle and Back: Reflections on My Strange Life as a Fairy-Tale Hero consists of a series of notes made to his staff between 1993 and 2003 which were discovered on his computer. Then there were sections written in 2005 from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington during a long stay there, and finally a running interview with Karel Hvizd'ala which threads its way through the book. It shows some of the big issues that confronted Havel during his tenure at the Castle, such as the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Czech Republic's entry into NATO. It also shows some of the small issues that endlessly plagued him, such as the following:
In the closet where the vacuum cleaner is kept, there also lives a bat. How to get rid of it? The lightbulb has been unscrewed so as not to wake it up and upset it.At other times, Havel had to complain about the ugliest telephones being in the most prominent places, about the length of the watering hose used in the gardens, and why the good silverware was not being used for state dinners.
I was curious to discover that Havel, despite being an internationally known playwright, was petrified whenever he had to begin writing anything. And he appears to have written all his own speeches!
Particularly impressive was Havel's answer as to what his credo was as the President of the Republic:
I think that the moral order stands above the legal, political, and economic orders, and that these latter orders should derive from the former, and not be techniques for getting around its imperatives. And I believe this moral order has a metaphysical anchoring in the infinite and the eternal.Would any of our politicians be so cogent and candid?
September 17, 2007
I just finished Vaclav Havel’s memoir, To the Castle and Back, and the harsh feelings I had towards the book as I began it dissipated a bit by the end. It has an odd structure, equal parts an interview done concerning events before he was president, memos he wrote while he was president, and recollections he wrote some years after he left office, all interspersed randomly among each other, with occasional repetitions of texts. As a biography, it’s a failure. By the end of the book, I still know little of the history of the Czech Republic, or what Havel did while in office. Readers looking for that should go to Havel’s book, Disturbing the Peace. That book remains one of the most influential books I’ve ever read, and I still count myself as lucky for stumbling on it in a friend’s bookshelf.
As a piece of literature, though, To the Castle is a success. Fundamentally, it casts Havel (and all writers and activists) as a sort of postmodern Sisyphus. He writes in depth and at length about his difficulty getting motivated and starting to write. He write, to the point of being whiney, about his intense doubt that his writing and political projects will ever achieve their high objectives. Indeed, he seems to argue that writing is fundamentally futile: “man will carry the complete truth about himself to the grave.” And yet Havel write, driven on by the “somewhat ridiculous” idea that “the world desperately needs the work in question, and will fall apart if it doesn’t appear.” I too like writing and thinking yet have intense self-doubt, and so I get great joy seeing that someone way more gifted than I like Havel suffers the same. I agree with Havel’s quote: “I sometimes ask myself whether I did not originally begin to write… only to overcome my essential experience of inappropriateness… in order to be able to live with those feelings.”
Yet somehow the Sisyphean task of the writer gives him meaning: “He simply tried to capture the world and himself more and more exactly through words, images, or actors, and the more he succeeds, the more aware he is that he can never completely capture either the world or himself… but that drives him to keep trying.” Imagine Sisyphus as conscious of the absurdity of his task, yet still drawing meaning from it. Camus would be proud.
This book is also a lament, for it is perhaps his last, and is certainly written as such. Havel is sending a message: he did his best to write himself into the world, but ultimately failed to communicate his internal self. Like a mortal Sisyphus in old age realizing he will never reach the top of this hill, nor could have.
-Robert[http://blog.robertmcdonald.info/]
As a piece of literature, though, To the Castle is a success. Fundamentally, it casts Havel (and all writers and activists) as a sort of postmodern Sisyphus. He writes in depth and at length about his difficulty getting motivated and starting to write. He write, to the point of being whiney, about his intense doubt that his writing and political projects will ever achieve their high objectives. Indeed, he seems to argue that writing is fundamentally futile: “man will carry the complete truth about himself to the grave.” And yet Havel write, driven on by the “somewhat ridiculous” idea that “the world desperately needs the work in question, and will fall apart if it doesn’t appear.” I too like writing and thinking yet have intense self-doubt, and so I get great joy seeing that someone way more gifted than I like Havel suffers the same. I agree with Havel’s quote: “I sometimes ask myself whether I did not originally begin to write… only to overcome my essential experience of inappropriateness… in order to be able to live with those feelings.”
Yet somehow the Sisyphean task of the writer gives him meaning: “He simply tried to capture the world and himself more and more exactly through words, images, or actors, and the more he succeeds, the more aware he is that he can never completely capture either the world or himself… but that drives him to keep trying.” Imagine Sisyphus as conscious of the absurdity of his task, yet still drawing meaning from it. Camus would be proud.
This book is also a lament, for it is perhaps his last, and is certainly written as such. Havel is sending a message: he did his best to write himself into the world, but ultimately failed to communicate his internal self. Like a mortal Sisyphus in old age realizing he will never reach the top of this hill, nor could have.
-Robert[http://blog.robertmcdonald.info/]
January 31, 2011
I first learned of Havel back in 2003 when I read an article in the New Yorker. I was struck by a particular quote of Havel's in the article, so much so that I actually wrote it down (Once upon a time I kept a small notebook where I would write down quotes that made me think or laugh). Havel wrote that all too often, "living normally begins as an attempt to do your work well and ends with being branded an enemy of society".
This quote appealed in the context of Havel challenging the authority of his boss, which I'm sure is what appealed to my rebellious streak. I wrote the quote down and made a mental note to read one of his books someday.
5 years later, I decided to finally purchase one of Havel's books. I settled on his memoir, To the Castle and Back. The Castle refers to the Prague Castle, where Havel spent his years as President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic after the split. To the Castle and Back contains Havel's answers to an interviewer's questions mixed in with memos Havel sent to his staff during his presidencies. The memos provide insight into both the wonderful and the mundane aspects of being the President of a country, and as a playwright Havel does not fail to entertain.
The majority of the book was written while Havel was visiting Washington DC in 2005 and his comments on Americans are hilarious:
"Americans place great store in white teeth, something I find generally agreeable; they have dozens of ways of achieving dental perfection and whiteness, and I don't think it's unusual for people here to have a relatively healthy set of teeth replaced with one that is artificial but more beautiful"
"... American cars, which for unknown reasons, have herds of useless horses under their hoods and are capable of speeds many times greater than is allowed anywhere here"
I also enjoyed the discussion of how absurd Havel found it that he became President, and all his insecurities despite the fact that he is universally regarded as a hero, someone who was instrumental in bringing about the fall of the Soviet Union. The fact that he mixes in memos such as: "We need a longer hose for watering" and "I would ask Mr. Rechtacek to repair and refill my lighter and send it back" with memos dealing with meeting world leaders and setting the course of world events makes it a wonderful reading experience. President Havel, I thoroughly enjoyed your memoir, and promise that it won't be 5 years before we meet again. I just have to decided which one to read next...
This quote appealed in the context of Havel challenging the authority of his boss, which I'm sure is what appealed to my rebellious streak. I wrote the quote down and made a mental note to read one of his books someday.
5 years later, I decided to finally purchase one of Havel's books. I settled on his memoir, To the Castle and Back. The Castle refers to the Prague Castle, where Havel spent his years as President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic after the split. To the Castle and Back contains Havel's answers to an interviewer's questions mixed in with memos Havel sent to his staff during his presidencies. The memos provide insight into both the wonderful and the mundane aspects of being the President of a country, and as a playwright Havel does not fail to entertain.
The majority of the book was written while Havel was visiting Washington DC in 2005 and his comments on Americans are hilarious:
"Americans place great store in white teeth, something I find generally agreeable; they have dozens of ways of achieving dental perfection and whiteness, and I don't think it's unusual for people here to have a relatively healthy set of teeth replaced with one that is artificial but more beautiful"
"... American cars, which for unknown reasons, have herds of useless horses under their hoods and are capable of speeds many times greater than is allowed anywhere here"
I also enjoyed the discussion of how absurd Havel found it that he became President, and all his insecurities despite the fact that he is universally regarded as a hero, someone who was instrumental in bringing about the fall of the Soviet Union. The fact that he mixes in memos such as: "We need a longer hose for watering" and "I would ask Mr. Rechtacek to repair and refill my lighter and send it back" with memos dealing with meeting world leaders and setting the course of world events makes it a wonderful reading experience. President Havel, I thoroughly enjoyed your memoir, and promise that it won't be 5 years before we meet again. I just have to decided which one to read next...
April 2, 2023
Boekenwinkel ergens in Praag
Nogal informeel en droog opgebouwde hommage aan een echte volksheld.
Boek ligt een beetje in lijn met de persoon Vaclav; de beste intenties, maar ze niet weten te communiceren met de kritische buitenwereld!
Nogal informeel en droog opgebouwde hommage aan een echte volksheld.
Boek ligt een beetje in lijn met de persoon Vaclav; de beste intenties, maar ze niet weten te communiceren met de kritische buitenwereld!
June 1, 2014
I read Disturbing the Peace a few months back on my first trip to Prague, and this on my second. The style is definitely odd. I didn't mind the diary entries and the Q&A sectons, but about a third of the way through I had to start skipping the memo sections or I'd have ended up ditching the book completely; they just became a mind-numbing blur of notes regarding speeches and amendments to speeches and the progress of the writing of speeches and the reception of said speeches. Even if I knew the contents of the chuffing speeches (which I don't - I confess my intimate knowledge of Czech day-to-day political dealings in the nineties/noughties is sadly lacking) I would still have wanted to gouge my eyes out. However, the other parts of the book were very readable and thought-provoking. My only criticisms would be ultimately personal and not connected to the quality of the book: I liked Havel without reservation after reading Disturbing the Peace. I agreed with most of his views and the way he saw the world. And so, with To the Castle and Back, I found it hard to reconcile those same views, which were still threaded through the book, with his constant name-dropping of, and almost grovelling respect for, the likes of George Bush and Madeleine Albright (who was nauseatingly referred to simply as Madeleine throughout), and his support for the Iraq invasion. He claims to have been surprised by how like everyone else people in politics are, and yet there's a definite whiff of fawning at times. But these are things I disliked on a personal level, and nothing to do with the writing of the book. An odd thing: he writes in such a way that, when you close the book, you have to remind yourself that he's no longer alive. He has the sort of voice that echoes long after it ceases to exist.
September 10, 2017
I was in my early twenties when Vaclav Havel, the playwright and champion of freedom in Eastern Europe was breaking onto the news with images of the "Velvet Revolution" in 1989. I was fascinated as I learned that this man who's never held political office would have only one day to decide if he would accept the prompting of his people to become the president of Czechoslovakia. He did so, and in 1989 became the last president of Czechoslovakia, and in 1993 became the first president of the newly formed Czech Republic. I followed the career and life of this great man and found him to be a very inspirational, humble and sometimes sobering voice for freedom and democracy.
His is one of my favorite quotes: "Hope is a feeling that life and work have meaning. You either have it, or you don't, regardless of the state of the world that surrounds you."
I began reading "To the Castle and Back" with great anticipation and was not disappointed. I must say that the book was much more personal and less a listing of his achievements, or his resume, which delighted me even more. It also seemed as though Havel moved from subject to subject, story to story without seeming to require too much continuity or thematic flow. This I also enjoyed as it helped me to appreciate each of these stories on their own merit.
A tremendously moving memoir by an incredible man!
His is one of my favorite quotes: "Hope is a feeling that life and work have meaning. You either have it, or you don't, regardless of the state of the world that surrounds you."
I began reading "To the Castle and Back" with great anticipation and was not disappointed. I must say that the book was much more personal and less a listing of his achievements, or his resume, which delighted me even more. It also seemed as though Havel moved from subject to subject, story to story without seeming to require too much continuity or thematic flow. This I also enjoyed as it helped me to appreciate each of these stories on their own merit.
A tremendously moving memoir by an incredible man!
November 6, 2023
4,5 ⭐️ - Fascinerend boek, fascinerende man.
March 8, 2018
There are several reasons why I gave this book 2 stars. It is my first political memoir, so that probably had something to do with it. Also, you need to know a few basic things about Czech politics before picking up this book, because Havel namedrops quite a few people without really going into detail about them.
The structure of the book worked really well in my opinion, and you can easily skip the parts you don't find interesting (in fact, Havel encourages the reader to do so in the introduction). I liked the Q&A parts the most, and I think that's where the substance of the book was. You could clearly see his views on political and social matters, and it's very interesting to see his progress from activist/author to prime minister. I ended up skim-reading the memos to his staff since they were mostly about speech revisions and dinner invitations.
The structure of the book worked really well in my opinion, and you can easily skip the parts you don't find interesting (in fact, Havel encourages the reader to do so in the introduction). I liked the Q&A parts the most, and I think that's where the substance of the book was. You could clearly see his views on political and social matters, and it's very interesting to see his progress from activist/author to prime minister. I ended up skim-reading the memos to his staff since they were mostly about speech revisions and dinner invitations.
December 23, 2011
Havel's political memoir. At times, remarkably candid and interesting. Would have been better served by the inclusion of some sort of timeline or chronology for non-Czech readers. Nevertheless, Havel's intellect and spirit will be sorely missed.
June 10, 2014
I got this book several years ago, but got bogged down in the scattershot way the material is laid out. However, the content makes a great deal more sense to me now that I've read Tony Judt's Postwar.
August 15, 2018
“America is a rather odd country. It’s very religious, and at the same time it allows the broadcast of the pope’s funeral to be interrupted by advertisements, many of which were the direct embodiment of what he had criticised for his entire life. I found it truly hard to understand, and it made me more and more uncomfortable, until I finally switched the television off.”
This is by no means a scintillating account of Havel’s time in office, neither does it propose to be, if anything he is refreshingly open and honest about his intentions from the very start, “I wrote it quickly, without a specific reader in mind. As a result there are some passages that may not interest all of my fellow citizens, and other that non-Czech readers may find hard to follow…If you occasionally feel like putting the book aside…I urge you to skip ahead.” Can you imagine the same level of transparency from other world leaders, particularly from English speaking nations?...
Most of this book takes the form of various diary entries. One significant period is when he makes a visit to Washington D.C. in the spring of 2005 and he lets his thoughts and opinions unwind on the page. It switches between these entries and a Q&A approach. We also get to hear what life is like at the Prague Castle (the residence of the Czech leader), as well as his times in prison and of course his part in the Velvet Revolution.
Without doubt Havel was politically naïve, particularly with regards to matters on other continents, but it’s honesty like this that makes him so refreshingly affable and unlike the vast majority of power hungry maniacs who normally find themselves in such a position. He readily admits his flaws and shortcomings and knows he still had much to learn.
There is no shortage of dull or pointless detail in here, but we do get some rewarding insights, like when meeting a dignitary he reflects that, “the more exotic and unusual the food…the more tasteless it is, so you have no idea what you’re eating.” The cost of flowers, struggling to work the computer and the pay level of the woman who does the laundry are just some of the seismic issues covered in here. But then we also get mention of the Clintons, the Bushes, Madeleine Albright and Tony Blair amongst many others. Sharon Stone and Robert Redford also get a mention.
During his stay in the States, he says, “Back home a policeman-fifteen years after the fall of the totalitarian system and the end of the police state-is still unconsciously seen as an enemy of the citizen; here people see him far more as their defender.” Havel was clearly spending almost all of his time in DC with white, elite intellectuals and millionaires and evidently hadn’t spoken to many black Americans on his trips to the States, who would have quite a different view on that matter.
The entire entry for August 21, 1999, simply reads, “In the closet where the vacuum cleaner is kept, there also lives a bat. How to get rid of it? The light bulb has been unscrewed so as not to wake it up and upset it.” This is printed no less than five times throughout this book, as is the entry for April 11, 1999, which reads, “We need a longer hose for watering.” I can only assume that this is maybe a secret code to someone, somewhere?...Either way whoever attempted to edit this book has also printed other identical entries at least three or four times, and put them in at random points elsewhere. This is just bizarre, and reeks of amateurish editing and starts to feel like one of those bootleg books with the dodgy printing quality you buy from a guy on the street, somewhere in Asia.
Overall this was an alright read, you will not get any blinding insights into Havel’s mind, but there are some quirky and enjoyable moments and it is interesting. The editing is not good enough and it does undermine the tone with its shabbiness, but aside from this, it does give us an idea of what it must have been like to be the leader of an emerging democratic nation after decades spent suffering from Soviet/Communist fear and oppression.
October 5, 2018
Vaclav Havel , on his birthday October 5
Here is Plato's Philosopher-King, a playwright whose stage is a nation; Vaclav Havel became a figure of the ideal human being and the unconquered spirit of man. His will to become, to defy tyrannical authority and hold fast to Truth, Justice, and Liberty regardless of the cost, to abandon not himself nor his people and together overcome repression and set themselves free; here is a song of revolutionary victory and the triumph of the human spirit to equal Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.
The Garden Party and other Plays collects many of his theatrical works; read also The Beggar's Opera and his final great play Leaving, based on Chekov's The Cherry Orchard and King Lear.
Read also his illuminating nonfiction ; his revolutionary essay The Power of the Powerless, the collected speeches in The Art of the Impossible: Politics as Morality in Practice, the interviews in Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Hvížďala, and his wonderful absurdist-dadaist memior, To the Castle and Back : Reflections on My Strange Life as a Fairy-Tale Hero.
He wrote several wonderful forwards to important works; the foundational text, Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street by Tomáš Sedláček. Another forward, for the marvelous biography A Century of Wisdom: Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer, the World's Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor , by Caroline Stoessinger. Again a Forward, to the revolutionary manual Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity, and Ingenuity Can Change the World, by Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson. And again, for No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems, by Xiaobo Liu. There are more; committed to freedom for all humanity, his work has rippled out globally as an informing and motivating source.
Living in Truth: 22 Essays Published on the Occasion of the Award of the Erasmus Prize is a marvelous summation of his life work. And read Vaclav Havel: The Authorized Biography by Eda Kriseová.
Here is Plato's Philosopher-King, a playwright whose stage is a nation; Vaclav Havel became a figure of the ideal human being and the unconquered spirit of man. His will to become, to defy tyrannical authority and hold fast to Truth, Justice, and Liberty regardless of the cost, to abandon not himself nor his people and together overcome repression and set themselves free; here is a song of revolutionary victory and the triumph of the human spirit to equal Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.
The Garden Party and other Plays collects many of his theatrical works; read also The Beggar's Opera and his final great play Leaving, based on Chekov's The Cherry Orchard and King Lear.
Read also his illuminating nonfiction ; his revolutionary essay The Power of the Powerless, the collected speeches in The Art of the Impossible: Politics as Morality in Practice, the interviews in Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Hvížďala, and his wonderful absurdist-dadaist memior, To the Castle and Back : Reflections on My Strange Life as a Fairy-Tale Hero.
He wrote several wonderful forwards to important works; the foundational text, Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street by Tomáš Sedláček. Another forward, for the marvelous biography A Century of Wisdom: Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer, the World's Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor , by Caroline Stoessinger. Again a Forward, to the revolutionary manual Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity, and Ingenuity Can Change the World, by Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson. And again, for No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems, by Xiaobo Liu. There are more; committed to freedom for all humanity, his work has rippled out globally as an informing and motivating source.
Living in Truth: 22 Essays Published on the Occasion of the Award of the Erasmus Prize is a marvelous summation of his life work. And read Vaclav Havel: The Authorized Biography by Eda Kriseová.
December 31, 2021
I love this guy. He comes across so down to earth and honest; I'm surprised he survived in politics as long as he did. I was surprised to see that he wrote all his own speeches and how much he agonized over them - probably because he wrote them himself. From the very start in his preface I knew I would enjoy it. Here is the Preface in its entirety:
I am delighted that this strange little book of mine is now available to English-speaking readers. I was unable, nor did I wish, to write a full-blown memoir, but after everything I have lived through, I felt I owed people an account of some kind. So I decided to fashion a special kind of collage. It has its own architecture, one that unfolds and interweaves themes and motifs and time periods. It builds slowly, gathering momentum as it goes. I wrote it quickly, without a specific reader in mind. As a result there are some passages that may not interest all of my fellow citizens, and others that non-Czech readers may find hard to follow. Still others refer to events that have long since been carried away by time. And yet, rather than make cuts, I let these passages stand because they belong to the flavor and the fabric of the times, and because I wanted to remind readers that I was not just taking part in routine changes of government; we were building a new democratic country, as it were, from the ground up.
If you occasionally feel like putting the book aside because it seems to skirt some of the world-shaking events that I lived through, or to burrow too deeply into exclusively Czech of Czechoslovak matters, I urge you to skip ahead. It's easy to do because the book is divided not only into chapters, but into short sequences, separated by horizontal lines. But whether you read it whole or piecemeal, I will be satisfied if you feel this book has given you something of value.
February 8, 2020
Havel is a role model.
He shows us what a public figure, a politician and a citizen can be.
He is definitely not afraid to think deeper and to express himself.
He is not afraid to formulate unpopular opinions.
He tries to understand pluses and minuses of each system.
E.x. he is for continous political integration, but he thinks globalization is a problem.
He recognized the pitfalls of both Soviet regime and consumerism society that both causes normalization and standardization of people.
It was interesting for me to read his book for several reasons:
- to learn his story
- to learn about his thoughts
- to take a look at his diary
The diary of the President was an interesting read in itself.
It contained his agenda for a lot of days and it showed him as a real simple very likable human, which is quite opposite of the politicians of the day.
Havel wanted to be a role model.
He wanted to remind his fellow citizens of better and bigger ideals, he wanted to inspire them to improve.
Politicians of today mostly move in opposite direction.
They just represent the worst parts of our society and our people.
If society is corrupt, politicians are corrupt.
If society is uneducated, politicians are profane.
He shows us what a public figure, a politician and a citizen can be.
He is definitely not afraid to think deeper and to express himself.
He is not afraid to formulate unpopular opinions.
He tries to understand pluses and minuses of each system.
E.x. he is for continous political integration, but he thinks globalization is a problem.
He recognized the pitfalls of both Soviet regime and consumerism society that both causes normalization and standardization of people.
It was interesting for me to read his book for several reasons:
- to learn his story
- to learn about his thoughts
- to take a look at his diary
The diary of the President was an interesting read in itself.
It contained his agenda for a lot of days and it showed him as a real simple very likable human, which is quite opposite of the politicians of the day.
Havel wanted to be a role model.
He wanted to remind his fellow citizens of better and bigger ideals, he wanted to inspire them to improve.
Politicians of today mostly move in opposite direction.
They just represent the worst parts of our society and our people.
If society is corrupt, politicians are corrupt.
If society is uneducated, politicians are profane.
April 8, 2025
Bearing the role of an important ant-communist icon in the 20th century, in the book Havel demonstrates humility, down-to-earth sentiments, and his obsession with doing the right thing by recounting significant political moments as well as daily life shenanigans. It does not necessarily provide readers with deets and facts about the country's transition and turmoil in its "post-democracy" era. Sometimes the light-hearted undertone might even mislead you into thinking the fight came naturally and was predestined. But by not giving himself essentially any credits and trying to pull away from public spotlight, Havel impresses us even more with how much he impacted the future of Central Europe. One day I wish to share his pursuit of morality and humanity, and true aesthetics in all aspects of living.
January 31, 2023
This was good (and unconventional) - I particularly liked the contrast it gave between Havel's official communications and his personal reflections.
It's probably worth mentioning that this book is only concerned with his time in power - if you’re looking for insights into how this came about and Charter 77 etc, then you won't find any of that here ...
Two things stood out for me: Firstly the inordinate amount of time he spent fussing over preparing state dinners and maintenance of the castle grounds; secondly the almost constant presence of Madeline Albright who seems to keep cropping up (I'm not really sure why).
At times he falls into banal political platitudes but despite this it's worth reading.
It's probably worth mentioning that this book is only concerned with his time in power - if you’re looking for insights into how this came about and Charter 77 etc, then you won't find any of that here ...
Two things stood out for me: Firstly the inordinate amount of time he spent fussing over preparing state dinners and maintenance of the castle grounds; secondly the almost constant presence of Madeline Albright who seems to keep cropping up (I'm not really sure why).
At times he falls into banal political platitudes but despite this it's worth reading.
June 13, 2017
Would give this 3.5 stars if I could. Of Czech ancestry on my mother's side, I was interested in the history of this man who was president of both Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.
I enjoyed the parts in italics in the the edition I read. These were the sections where he wrote down his own thoughts, as if in a diary. His observations on the differences between Americans and Czechs were particularly interesting and often amusing. The other sections were hit or miss. Some were dry instructions or notes about things and I found my self skimming these more and more until the last 50 pages or so
I enjoyed the parts in italics in the the edition I read. These were the sections where he wrote down his own thoughts, as if in a diary. His observations on the differences between Americans and Czechs were particularly interesting and often amusing. The other sections were hit or miss. Some were dry instructions or notes about things and I found my self skimming these more and more until the last 50 pages or so
May 29, 2019
This book is a great follow-up to Disturbing the Peace. There are three different parts interlaced:
1. Memoirs from 2005, while Havel was in the US after his period as a president. These are y far the most interesting pieces, mostly commenting on international issues.
2. Answers to questions from Hvizdala, in the same style as in Disturbing the Peace. These are sometimes more interesting than other times, depending on how deep into Czech history you are. For me as a foreigner who has been to the Czech Republic numerous times, I can get into most of it, but other aspects remain quite obscure because I do not know many of the subjects.
3. Notes from Havel as a President to his staff. This is often a list of complaints about him having to write speeches and other organisational things going wrong. By far the least interesting parts, and I started skipping them when another identical complaint came by.
Overall, this is a good book, could be a star more if I were Czech and had lived through the period Havel describes, but for me as a foreigner often too obscure or irrelevant.
1. Memoirs from 2005, while Havel was in the US after his period as a president. These are y far the most interesting pieces, mostly commenting on international issues.
2. Answers to questions from Hvizdala, in the same style as in Disturbing the Peace. These are sometimes more interesting than other times, depending on how deep into Czech history you are. For me as a foreigner who has been to the Czech Republic numerous times, I can get into most of it, but other aspects remain quite obscure because I do not know many of the subjects.
3. Notes from Havel as a President to his staff. This is often a list of complaints about him having to write speeches and other organisational things going wrong. By far the least interesting parts, and I started skipping them when another identical complaint came by.
Overall, this is a good book, could be a star more if I were Czech and had lived through the period Havel describes, but for me as a foreigner often too obscure or irrelevant.
April 4, 2018
A fascinating collection of memories, memos, notes, and interviews by the ex-President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. Most interesting are Havel's thoughts on Klaus, and Zeman. Though his account of his trip to the US in 2005 is also interesting.
A must for Havel fans.
A must for Havel fans.
May 25, 2020
Some Excerpts From
To the Castle and Back
Vaclav Havel
This material may be protected by copyright.
“As for being critical of the West, I have no need to criticize the West to show some kind of “balance,” in other words to demonstrate my independence: I’m secure in my independence and therefore feel no need to demonstrate it. I have been trying to subject the West, and in fact modern civilization in general, to critical reflections for a very long time now”
“we started directly, after a few days of revolution, to build a normal democratic society.”
“democracy is not just systems, institutions, and their interrelations; in other words, it’s not just a technique but above all it is a relationship to the world and to society, a way of thinking, the spirit of public life”
“Shortly after the revolution and the arrival of freedom, a very special kind of anticommunist obsession established itself in public life. It was as though some people—people who had been silent for years, who had voted obediently in communist elections, who had thought only of themselves and had been careful not to get into trouble—now felt the sudden need to compensate in some aggressive way for their earlier humiliation, or for the feeling or suspicion that they might have been found wanting. And so they took aim at the people who least held it against them, that is, the dissidents. They still felt, unconsciously, that the dissidents were the voice of their bad conscience, living proof that you didn’t have to completely knuckle under if you didn’t want to.”
“When civil society languishes, when the life of organizations and voluntary associations is curtailed, then sooner or later political parties will begin to languish as well, until, ultimately, they become degenerate ghettos whose only purpose is to elevate their members into positions of power.”
To the Castle and Back
Vaclav Havel
This material may be protected by copyright.
“As for being critical of the West, I have no need to criticize the West to show some kind of “balance,” in other words to demonstrate my independence: I’m secure in my independence and therefore feel no need to demonstrate it. I have been trying to subject the West, and in fact modern civilization in general, to critical reflections for a very long time now”
“we started directly, after a few days of revolution, to build a normal democratic society.”
“democracy is not just systems, institutions, and their interrelations; in other words, it’s not just a technique but above all it is a relationship to the world and to society, a way of thinking, the spirit of public life”
“Shortly after the revolution and the arrival of freedom, a very special kind of anticommunist obsession established itself in public life. It was as though some people—people who had been silent for years, who had voted obediently in communist elections, who had thought only of themselves and had been careful not to get into trouble—now felt the sudden need to compensate in some aggressive way for their earlier humiliation, or for the feeling or suspicion that they might have been found wanting. And so they took aim at the people who least held it against them, that is, the dissidents. They still felt, unconsciously, that the dissidents were the voice of their bad conscience, living proof that you didn’t have to completely knuckle under if you didn’t want to.”
“When civil society languishes, when the life of organizations and voluntary associations is curtailed, then sooner or later political parties will begin to languish as well, until, ultimately, they become degenerate ghettos whose only purpose is to elevate their members into positions of power.”
February 9, 2025
I really enjoyed this book! Granted, I don’t pretend to know a ton about history, european politics, etc. But as an American expat living in Prague, I loved getting to know Havel better, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing his thoughts on America 😂
March 21, 2008
I'm really more acquainted with Vaclav Havel the playwright-turned-celebrity-activist then Havel the writer, and so I can only speak with limited authority (none at all really) as to how this compares to his larger body of work.
I don't think I'm being inappropriately harsh when I say that it utterly fails as a book. As a thing with a front and a back cover, and a linear progression of numbered pages which you move through by turning them over. The failure infact is to imagine this work as a book at all.
Fundamentally this is a hypertextual account of Havel's daily experience, largely mundane, as the Czech president. If instead of a book, this had been a website, or maybe a hypercard stack, that allowed us to scrub forward and back through time, and drill down on names and events, pivot on place and conflict, then perhaps this series of extracted diary entry and notes to staff would have built a meaningful picture.
Or perhaps I simply lack the patience right now, perhaps this is a book to revisit one snowy winter, without pressures or deadlines, or engagements, nothing but plodding days, in which to tease out a narrative structure that at first (and second and third) glance appears to be wholly absent.
Or perhaps the clue was there in the title all along, a Czech reader would have immediately and intuitively understood the connection with Kafka's "The Castle" and that the story was the journey to the heart of that shadowy and plodding bureaucracy and alienation.
I don't know. Maybe I'll pick it up again. But I'm not going to go on paying the library late fees.
I don't think I'm being inappropriately harsh when I say that it utterly fails as a book. As a thing with a front and a back cover, and a linear progression of numbered pages which you move through by turning them over. The failure infact is to imagine this work as a book at all.
Fundamentally this is a hypertextual account of Havel's daily experience, largely mundane, as the Czech president. If instead of a book, this had been a website, or maybe a hypercard stack, that allowed us to scrub forward and back through time, and drill down on names and events, pivot on place and conflict, then perhaps this series of extracted diary entry and notes to staff would have built a meaningful picture.
Or perhaps I simply lack the patience right now, perhaps this is a book to revisit one snowy winter, without pressures or deadlines, or engagements, nothing but plodding days, in which to tease out a narrative structure that at first (and second and third) glance appears to be wholly absent.
Or perhaps the clue was there in the title all along, a Czech reader would have immediately and intuitively understood the connection with Kafka's "The Castle" and that the story was the journey to the heart of that shadowy and plodding bureaucracy and alienation.
I don't know. Maybe I'll pick it up again. But I'm not going to go on paying the library late fees.
October 6, 2010
It was OK. It was a little difficult to read as it went back and forth between what Vaclav Havel was doing currently, what he was doing at a certain point in his presidency, and responses to a Czech reporter. The current stuff was interesting when he was writing from the USA and what he thought about its people and culture. The responses to the reporter were interesting when the subject was. I accidently got this book because the Library didn't have the book I wanted to read regarding Havel--- Disturbing the Peace. Havel is certainly a brave man and in many ways to be admired. Of course, as a writer and playwright, he was playful even in this book. "In his closet where the vacuum cleaner is kept, there also lives a bat. How to get rid of it? The lightbulb has been unscrewed so as not to wake it up and upset it..." Is this a profound analogy? I can't be sure thought my imagination conjures a few. Another one though keeps repeating and I am certain it is a lament that his life has grown toward its end, when there is still much to do. It says "We need a longer hose for watering...."
August 4, 2012
I just couldn't finish it. Might pick it up again if I have time, but this is a very slow read--it's not engrossing or engaging really, but it is still interesting. Vaclav Havel has led an amazing life, but this book is strangely dull. I feel like it's intentionally so...it seems like Havel doesn't want to give anyone the illusion that he has lived a charmed life (the title is certainly tongue in cheek).
The book is fragmented and disjointed; it's separated into chapters (which seemed arbitrary), and within the chapters there are sections mixed among one another including q&a with a journalist, memos from his presidency, notes from his trip to Washington, etc. Some of the snippets are very interesting, and I found myself marking a few passages. As a whole, however, this book is pretty difficult to get into.
The book is fragmented and disjointed; it's separated into chapters (which seemed arbitrary), and within the chapters there are sections mixed among one another including q&a with a journalist, memos from his presidency, notes from his trip to Washington, etc. Some of the snippets are very interesting, and I found myself marking a few passages. As a whole, however, this book is pretty difficult to get into.
September 22, 2015
I can guarantee, you will never find an autobiography of a politician like this. In an era where Hilary and everyone else comes out with self-promoting manifestos, Havel shows who he really is and always has been -- not a politician, but an artist. He shows the peculiar and sometimes absurd minutia of being a head of state (at one point he questions why there are three antiquated telephones in the reception lobby to his office -- "why three?) and he shows flashes of his self-loathing and self-doubt.
As a final note, as a speechwriter myself, I was impressed to find he wrote all his speeches. You won't find a politician who does that anymore.
I would rate this higher BUT I realize this is more for a niche audience, particularly anyone with an association with Czech Republic or with a respect for the man who lead the Velvet Revolution.
As a final note, as a speechwriter myself, I was impressed to find he wrote all his speeches. You won't find a politician who does that anymore.
I would rate this higher BUT I realize this is more for a niche audience, particularly anyone with an association with Czech Republic or with a respect for the man who lead the Velvet Revolution.
October 18, 2007
This book reads more like the the audio commentary on a DVD called "The Czech Republic from 1989 to 2005" than it does a like a memoir. And just like you wouldn't watch the audio commentary before seeing the movie, you probably wouldn't enjoy this book as much if you don't already know a little bit about some of the recent history of Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic. Not that I'm an expert. I would have enjoyed the book more if I was more of an expert. As it is, I enjoyed it pretty well.
A better introduction to Vaclav Havel would be Summer Meditations or his collected speeches. He's one of the politicians that I admire most.
A better introduction to Vaclav Havel would be Summer Meditations or his collected speeches. He's one of the politicians that I admire most.
December 24, 2013
It seemed like a book by a playwright. Each little section was a vignette. In the beginning he tells the reader they may skip parts if they find it boring or whatnot, and I definitely did that a few times. He interweaves his old diary (or memos) from his time at the Castle, answering an interviewer's questions, and a present day (2005) writings of his current musings. While I did skip some parts I found other parts quite fascinating. This is the first I've read of Vaclav Havel, and while maybe not the best place to start to get a grasp of his ideas, it's certainly interesting to learn more about the man. He was very thoughtful and articulate. Interesting, but probably not for most people.
January 9, 2012
I'd really prefer to read one of Havel's plays or a book that he wrote that isn't in a Q&A format. This book intermingled Q&A, random notes, and went back and forth like a bad flashback. Even with Havel's disclaimer that this was how the book was going to be it's a bit annoying. Good book but probably not the best primer on the subject.
March 15, 2012
A memoir about the Czech, during the 2 months he ran away to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Interspersed with notes from his time as President, and mingled with musings about life in America: politicians appear to be be political all day, as opposed to his country, where they like to relax after work; drivers are courteous to pedestrians; everyone has a good haircut and smell nice.
February 16, 2013
Excellent book! Fascinating insight into the heart and mind of Havel. Definitely ahead of his time - history reveals that he was the right man, at the right place, at the right time. I have tremendous respect and admiration for him! Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Czech Republic, the mindset of its people, its history, or its politics.
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