New Biography of Václav and Kamila Benda

The author Alice Horáčková has written Václav a Kamila Bendovi (Václav and Kamila Benda), a biography of Václav (1946–1999) and Kamila (1946) Benda, who were leading figures in the Czech dissent. In her history of one extraordinary relationship, she draws on archival documents, correspondence, texts from his estate and the recollections of friends, fellow prisoners and leading politicians. The evening will include a screening of video footage from 1978. At that time, Václav Benda, a doctor of philosophy and cyberneticist, was sweltering in a boiler room in Spálená St., having ideas for one of his greatest texts, Noční kádrový dotazník (The Night Cadre Questionnaire), and observing as the talented mathematician Kamila ran a household with five young children. The book’s protagonists Kamila Bendová, Jiří Gruntorád and Štěpán Benda will take part in a debate with the author.