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Ivana Ryčlová: They Chose Freedom

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  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 12, 2018, 17:00 – 19:00

In her latest book Zvolili svobodu (They Chose Freedom)literary historian Ivana Ryčlová maps the fates of the shapers of Russian 20thcentury culture who expressed disagreement with the Soviet-Orwellian reality in which they were living, including Shalamov, Solzhenitsyn, Galich, Sinyavsky, Ratushinskayaand many others. The author outlines how their opposition to the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces in 1968 impacted their complicated life stories to varying degrees. Anatoly Marchenko suffered a tragic fate, with his uncompromising positions – including media appearances defending the freedom of Czechoslovakia – meaning he spent the majority of his life in the Gulag, where he died in murky circumstances in the mid 1980s.

Writer Milan Uhde will discuss the book, published by the Centre for the Study of Democracy, while Ondřej Černý, director general of the Czech Centres network, will chair a talk with the author.

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