Ludvík Vaculík: Czech Snark

A reading from the autobiographical prose of the Czech novelist, publicist and Charter 77 signatory Ludvík Vaculík, in which the author captures not only a year of his own life, but also a picture of Czech society in the late 1970s, which he views from within the dissident milieu. The book had a great response in the 1980s, mainly because of its subject matter: an open depiction of life in dissident circles. A number of people accused the author of being too open, especially in view of the political situation in the totalitarian state at the time, while some accused him of being self-indulgent and even egocentric. However, the book should not be confused with non-fiction, even though it is firmly grounded in reality.