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Looking back at the fourteen
years following the collapse of totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern
Europe in 1989 and considering the possibilities of establishing the research
of samizdat phenomena on a serious scientific basis, we might well say
that the greatest achievement ever can be seen in the international exhibitions
of samizdat products held subsequently in Berlin, Prague, Brussels and
now here in Budapest. The texts published in the exhibition catalogues
have undoubtedly largely contributed to our knowledge of the discussed
phenomenon and have managed to bring the topic to the international fore.
On the other hand, however, these exhibitions can be seen only as a
first step towards the true recognition of the samizdat phenomena in
terms of literary history, history of art, politology, sociology etc. etc.
As far as today's Czech Republic is concerned, it is well known that this
part of our history is still found on the margin of interests of most historians,
sociologists, politicians, literary historians, to say nothing of the general
reading public, so it can be said that it is a true wonder that we may
name some of the achievements in this field of knowledge.
First of all we must mention the activities of the Prague library LIBRI
PROHIBITI which was established as early as October 1990 as a "non
profit organisation" and has been run by its founder Mr. Jiří Gruntorád
(on whose behalf I have the honour to speak here) up to this day, among
its other founding members being, for example, Václav Havel, Ludvík Vaculík,
prof. Radim Palouš, prof. Vilém Prečan, and Pavel Tigrid. As is mentioned
in the LIBRI PROHIBITI Annual Report for the year 2003, to this
day "the library consists of collections of samizdat and exile literature,
of an archive of documents, and of an audiovisual section, in all more
than 23 000 library units and over 1750 periodical titles". From the same
source we learn that "the greater part of this material is [now] recorded
in electronic form", and that the library "owns materials that are available
nowhere else in the Czech Republic or even the world", and that "in view
of this the library has fundamental significance for improving the information
situation in this area". However, the LIBRI PROHIBITI Annual Report
also informs us that rather than Czech samizdat activities it has been
the exile book production of the past decades which seemed to attract more
attention from the side of the LIBRI PROHIBITI librarians - at least judging
from the list of library bibliographic publications, and, of course, we
also learn that some of further library projects are now jeopardized due
to chronic problems with insufficient finances. All in all it must be emphasized
that the LIBRI PROHIBITI Library archives form an indispensable basis for
all researchers and students in the area of Czech samizdat. Other Czech
or foreign libraries or institutes which pursue similar aims in archiving
samizdat books and periodicals can hardly compete with the LIBRI PROHIBITI
Library. Here I have in mind for instance Československé dokumentační středisko
[Czechoslovak Documentation Centre] in Prague, Národní knihovna České republiky
[National Library of the Czech Republic], or Literární archiv Památníku
národního písemnictví [Literary Archives of the Museum of Czech Literature]
in Prague, to say nothing of various private collections or archives
of academic institutions both in the Czech Republic and abroad.
In the area of documentation it is also necessary to mention an outstanding
Czech project of the recent past - the Czech Television fifteen-part
documentary series called simply Samizdat, presented on our
TV in 2003. Its makers - the director Andrej Krob and screen-writer
Pavel Kosatík - have tried, mostly using the form of interviewing
the former samizdat publishers, editors and writers, to throw light upon
the independent publishing in Czechoslovakia during all four decades of
the totalitarian regime. The fifteen hours of this documentary film give
us enough opportunity to get a better idea of the most different ways of
the samizdat production in the Czech lands and Slovakia, ranging from the
best known Czech samizdat rows of editions of the seventies, like, for
instance, Edice Petlice, Edice Expedice, Edice Kvart, Krameriova expedice,
Česká expedice, Edice Popelnice etc., via political samizdat activities
from the late forties up to the late eighites, to samizdat activities of
surrealists, Catholic essayists, Jehovah's Witnesses, underground poets
and journalists etc. etc. Also documented are some of the regional samizdat
activities, musical samizdat distribution (the so-called "magnizdat"),
unofficial theatre performances, alternative film-making, and contacts
of samizdat publishers with their exile colleagues abroad.
There can hardly be any doubt that bibliographies of samizdat publications
form the necessary basis, a sort of starting point for any research in
the given area. Although relatively a lot has been done in this field in
Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic since 1989 (and even earlier) we
cannot be satisfied with the achieved results. As we all know, bibliographic
work is a demanding, time-consuming matter which usually brings little
if any reward to its authors. This is even more true in our case when no
"real" books are actually objects of a bibliographer's work, merely their
"illegal" immitation. Can any of the samizdat activities be registered
in the form of a bibliography at all? What about the so-called "wild samizdat",
the anonymous typewritten copies of copies of copies? Where is the difference
between a samizdat publication, on one hand, and a manuscript, on the other?
Nevertheless, it is only the attempts made in this direction, that can
answer such questions.
Here, as well, we have to say that so far, much more has been done for
the bibliographic registration of exile books and periodicals than the
samizdat production proper. Only a few Czech samizdat bibliographies have
already been published in a monographic book form, for instance Česká
samizdatová periodika 1968-1989 by an Austrian student of Czech studies
Johanna Posset (Brno 1991); Minulost a dějiny v českém a slovenském
samizdatu 1970-1989 [The Past and History in Czech and Slovak Samizdat
1970-1989] by Jan Vlk, Vendula Vaňková and Jiří Novotný (Brno, Doplněk
1993); Edice českého samizdatu 1972-1991 by Jitka Hanáková (Praha
1997), summarizing the results of other bibliographies for the purposes
of the National Library of the Czech Republic; Informace o Chartě 77:
Článková bibliografie 1978-1990 [Information about Charter 77: An Article
Bibliography 1978-1990] by Jiří Gruntorád and Jana Lifková (Brno, Doplněk
1998); Slovník českých literárních časopisů, periodických literárních
sborníků a almanachů 1945-2000 [A Dictionary of Czech Literary Journals,
Periodical Literary Anthologies and Almanachs] by Blahoslav Dokoupil (Brno
2002); or, in a way, Jazzová sekce v čase a nečase 1971-1987 [Jazz
Section in Good Times and Bad Times 1971-1987] by Vladimír Kouřil (Praha
1999).
Among the Czech periodicals of the nineties it was especially the journal
Kritický sborník edited by Karel Palek-Fidelius where the bibliographies
of the following samizdat editions had gradually been published: Jungiana
(1991/4), Nové cesty myšlení (1992/1), Spisy Jana Patočky
(1992/1), Edice Popelnice (1992/2), Krameriova expedice 78
(1992/4), Česká expedice (1993/1), Edice Půlnoc (1993/3),
Pražská imaginace (1994/2), Edice Expedice (1994/3, 4), Alef
and Knihovna Střední Evropy (1998-1999/2-3). Moreover, several article
bibliographies of samizdat periodicals were also published in Kritický
sborník, mostly being the work of Jiří Gruntorád. First of all, an article
bibliography of Kritický sborník itself, i.e. of its samizdat past,
(1991/1, 2); then Revolver Revue (1991/3, 4); Střední Evropa
(1995-1996/1-2), Obsah (1995-1996/3, 4; 1996-1997/1, 2, 3, 4; 1997-1998/1,
2- 3); Vokno (1999-2000/1).
A bibliography of the best known and most abundant Czechoslovak samizdat
edition - Edice Petlice - has not been published yet, which is rather
surprising. The first attempt at such a bibliography was published in the
exile journal ACTA (1987/3-4, in Scheinfeld- Schwarzenberg, Germany; also
in English translation) [reedited in Nové knihy, 1990, 7-23].
Other Czech periodicals have occasionaly given space to samizdat bibliographies,
too. So, for example, Revolver Revue, BOX, a Moravian literary review,
in which a bibliography of Moravian samizdat editions was published (1996/6).
An outstanding attempt to describe and register numerous "magnizdat" activities
of the seventies and eighties has been made by a Czech-Canadian student
of Czech, Anna Vanicek: in her so far unpublished disertation Underground
Rock Music in Czechoslovakia 1968-1989, submitted at York University,
Ontario, Canada, 1997.
So far only few Czech or foreign publications have dealt with samizdat
as a social, political and cultural phenomenon. Let me remind here the
remarkable and in this respect initiatory, inaugural work by the late professor
Gordon Skilling, a scholar of vast interests, especially in political science
and sociology, Samizdat and Independent Society in Central and Eastern
Europe, published simultaneously in the US and the UK in 1989. This
book represented one of the first serious attempts to describe and interpret
the discussed phenomenon and to introduce it to West European and American
readers.
No less important for the Czech literary scene was Slovník českých spisovatelů
1948-1979 [A Dictionary of Czech Writers 1948-1979] by Jiří Brabec,
Jiří Gruša, Igor Hájek, Petr Kabeš, and Jan Lopatka, which itself was first
published in samizdat form in 1979 (Edice Petlice, 2nd edition: Sixty-Eight
Publishers, Toronto, 1982) the role of which was essential in the recognition
of the scale of the unofficial literary scene.
From 1989 onwards we can register the effort of Czech literary historians
to give the samizdat and exile literary scene its adequate and proper
place within the frame of history of literature and the arts. It can
be said without much exageration that some of those works managed to re-evaluate
the whole of the 20th century Czech literary scene. For example Slovník
českých spisovatelů od roku 1945 [A Dictionary of Czech Writers since
1945]: a two-volume dictionary of Czech literature, the work of a group
of authors, published in Prague in 1995 and 1998. Similar synthetic effort
in appreciating and evaluating the samizdat literary scene can be seen
in a number of works by literary historian Jiří Holý, for instance Česká
literatura od počátků ke dnešku [Czech Literature from its Beginnings
up to this Day] (Jiří Holý et alii, Praha 2000), or by Lubomír Machala,
Panorama české literatury [A Panoramic View of Czech Literature]
(L. Machala et alii, Olomouc 1994).
Various aspect and branches of Czech samizdat literature have recently
roused interest of other literary historians, for example Jiří Trávníček,
Poezie poslední možnosti [Poetry of Last Chances] (Praha 1996);
Gertraude Zand, Totální realismus a trapná poesie. Česká neoficiální
literatura 1948-1953 (Brno 2002; first published in the German original
under the title Totaler Realismus und Peinliche Poesie. Tschechische
Untergrund-Literatur 1948- 1953 by Peter Lang Verlag in 1998); Alena
Nádvorníková, K surrealismu [Towards Surrealism] (Praha 1998); Martin
Pilař, Underground. Kapitoly o českém literáním undergroundu [Underground.
Chapters on Czech Literary Underground] (Brno 1999).
Moreover, recent years have seen perhaps the first attempt to create
an interdisciplinary, collective work which deals with various aspects
of the independent cultural scene of the past, including the samizdat phenomena.
The voluminous book Alternativní kultura. Příběh české společnosti 1945-1989
[Alternative Culture. A Story of Czech Society 1945-1989] (Praha 2001)
the editor of which was the professor of sociology Josef Alan, consists
of contributions of fourteen authors who tried to interpret the wide range
of the independent cultural scene, various aspects of samizdat phenomena
being dealt with here by Stanislav Dvorský, Jiří Gruntorád, Tomáš Vrba,
and Martin Machovec. Here, prof. Alan himself published his essay "Alternativní
kultura jako sociologické téma" [Alternative Culture as a Topic of Sociology]
which is probably one of the first attempts to interpret samizdat and other
independent activities of the past decades from the point of view of sociology.
Although we could continue with our list of achievements in the field of
scientific approaches towards samizdat phenomena, we prefer to stop it
now. For such brief ennumeration does not say much about the quality
of the mentioned works which, regrettably, is quite often quite far
from the desired. Some of the bibliographies, based on theses or disertations
of university students, contain a number of mistakes, and it must be also
admitted, that even those synthetic works mentioned often fail to fulfil
their big scientific ambitions as some of their authors still do not seem
to be able to get rid of their biased views, subjective feelings, and sometimes
tend to ignore or underestimate one or another aspect of independent, samizdat
activities of the past.
All in all it must be admitted that the Czech samizdat phenomena as a whole
have not been thoroughly investigated yet. One of the obstacles blocking
our way towards establishing the true scientific research of the samizdat
phenomena is undoubtedly to be found in insufficient interest in the discussed
area on the side of Ministery of Culture of the Czech Republic, although
we have to understand that their financial funds are limited. Too often
it is the case that individual researchers, literary historians, bibliographers
etc. have to spend most of their working hours in employments very much
distant from their main objects of interests, to make the living, and thus
being able to pursue the aims of their research work only in their free
time and, of course, without being paid for it. It is obvious then that
the important part of our common past, as samizdat culture undoubtedly
was, is now being marginalized and suffers because of the lack of interest.
I would like to end this contribution of mine by saying a few words about
my own work in the field of samizdat bibliography. As an editor I started
to work some 18 years ago on a bibliography of the works of the poet and
philosopher Egon Bondy - the leading figure of Czech underground movement
from the early fifties onward. Those modest beginnings have recently resulted
in Bondy's bibliography which is now accessible on the web site of the
LIBRI PROHIBITI library. This work, covering 128 pages, has of course been
done in the author's free time and without hope of any grant or any way
of publishing it, i.e. with the exception of the internet. Let it be mentioned
here, as a pars pro toto, that there is no doubt that a number of
our Czech colleagues have to pursue their interests in researching the
samizdat phenomena under similar conditions.
Egon Bondy's work of a poet, philosopher, novellist, essaysist, playwright,
translator and radical underground marxist has found the form of samizdat
publications in Czechoslovakia throughout the forty years of his life from
1948 up to 1989, the few exemptions from this rule being found only in
the late sixties when Bondy managed to publish three of his purely philosophical
works then, of course, only under his true name of Zbyněk Fišer. Consequently,
his work has always been a challenge to samizdat editors, bibliographers
and now even to some literary historians who do not despise him because
of his left-wing orientation.
The bibliography of his work consists of eight parts: 1/ Printed
publications, 2/ Samizdat titles, 3/ List of manuscripts found in archives,
4/ List of manuscripts of samizdat publications deposited in Literary Archives
of the Museum of Czech Literature in Prague, 5/ List of author's correspondence
found in various private archives, 6/ Chronology of samizdat collections
of poems, 7/ Chronology of samizdat prose writings, 8/ Chronology of samizdat
philosophical works.
Now I shall give you a few data to illustrate the above mentioned parts:
To this day 82 printed books by Egon Bondy have been registered, including
several translations of his texts into foreign languages, and his own translations
of texts by other authors.
165 titles of individual samizdat works have been registered which, of
course, represent only the first issues of these works.
266 manuscript items, bundles or archive units of both published and unpublished
works, of which 52 have been deposited in Literary Archives of the Museum
of Czech Literature in Prague.
40 collections of received or sent letters, items of correspondence, some
of them consisting of up to one or two hundred letters, none of which,
of course, has ever been published.
My recent work on Bondy's bibliography has taken about six months.
Thank you for your attention.
May 2004, Budapest
A Brief Report on Present
Knowledge of Czech Samizdat Phenomena 1948-1989
/Martin Machovec, Prague/
Books quoted:
Johanna Posset: Česká
samizdatová periodika 1968-1989, Brno 1991
Jan
Vlk, Vendula Vaňková and Jiří Novotný: Minulost a dějiny v českém a
slovenském samizdatu 1970-1989 [The Past and History in Czech and Slovak
Samizdat 1970-1989], Brno, 1993
Jitka Hanáková: Edice
českého samizdatu 1972-1991, Praha 1997
Jiří
Gruntorád - Jana Lifková: Informace o Chartě 77: Článková bibliografie
1978-1990 [Information about Charter 77: An Article Bibliography 1978-1990],
Brno 1998
Blahoslav
Dokoupil: Slovník českých literárních časopisů, periodických literárních
sborníků a almanachů 1945-2000 [A Dictionary of Czech Literary Journals,
Periodical Literary Anthologies and Almanachs], Brno 2002
Vladimír
Kouřil: Jazzová sekce v čase a nečase 1971-1987 [Jazz Section in
Good Times and Bad Times 1971-1987], Praha 1999
Anna
Vanicek: Underground Rock Music in Czechoslovakia 1968- 1989, York
University, Ontario, Canada, 1997.
Gordon
Skilling: Samizdat and Independent Society in Central and Eastern Europe,
London, Macmillan 1989
Jiří
Brabec, Jiří Gruša, Igor Hájek, Petr Kabeš, Jan Lopatka: Slovník českých
spisovatelů 1948-1979 [A Dictionary of Czech Writers 1948-1979]. Sixty-Eight
Publishers, Toronto, 1982
Pavel
Janoušek, ed.: Slovník českých spisovatelů od roku 1945 [A Dictionary
of Czech Writers since 1945], Praha 1995, 1998
Jiří
Holý et alii: Česká literatura od počátků ke dnešku [Czech Literature
from its Beginnings up to this Day], Praha 2000
Lubomír
Machala et alii: Panorama české literatury [A Panoramic View of
Czech Literature], Olomouc 1994
Jiří
Trávníček: Poezie poslední možnosti [Last Chances of Poetry], Praha
1996
Gertraude
Zand: Totální realismus a trapná poesie. Česká neoficiální literatura
1948-1953, Brno 2002
Gertraude
Zand: Totaler Realismus und Peinliche Poesie. Tschechische Untergrund-Literatur
1948-1953, Wien, Peter Lang Verlag 1998
Alena Nádvorníková: K
surrealismu [Towars Surrealism], Praha 1998
Martin
Pilař: Underground. Kapitoly o českém literáním undergroundu [Underground.
Chapters on Czech Literary Underground], Brno 1999
Josef
Alan et alii: Alternativní kultura. Příběh české společnosti 1945-1989
[Alternative Culture. A Story of Czech Society 1945-1989], Praha 2001
Martin Machovec, Prague
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