Late Czech writer Skvorecky was free man in unfree world - Klaus

Opustit tisk

published: 04.01.2012, 13:27 | updated: 04.01.2012 14:03:47

Prague - Czech writer Josef Skvorecky who died in Canada on Tuesday aged 87 was "a free man in an unfree world," Czech President writes in his condolence he released on his www.klaus.cz web page today.

He writes that Skvorecky was an exceptional phenomenon of Czech cultural and social life.

"Josef Skvorecky was a solitary man who brought us the spirit of American conservatism and open-mindedness at the worst times of lack of freedom. Even in Canadian exile after the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia (1968) he did not lose contact with his homeland, he worked for it and for its future freedom as few did," Klaus writes.

He underlines the fact that Skvorecky was not one of "the prevalent part of Czech intellectuals who had to pass through the communist party to comprehend their mistake."

"He was one of the few who always intuitively comprehended that freedom and communism cannot go together," Klaus writes.

He writes that he still remembers his meetings with Skvorecky at the U.S. Cornell and Berkeley universities in 1969.

Skvorecky emigrated to Canada in early 1969 after the Prague Spring reform movement was crushed by a Soviet-led invasion by Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968.

Two years later he founded the Sixty-Eight Publishers with his wife Zdena Salivarova, a writer and actress, that published works by Czech authors who were banned in the then communist Czechoslovakia.

Czech writers as well as politicians have also praised in their condolences Skvorecky´s literary and publishing activities in exile.

Prime Minister Petr Necas, Culture Minister Alena Hanakova as well as the PEN Club Czech Centre chairman Jiri Dedecek pointed stressed the importance of Sixty-Eight Publishers.

Author: CTK
http://www.ctk.cz/

var addthis_config = { username: 'karelp', ui_cobrand: 'CeskéNoviny.cz', ui_language: 'en', ui_header_color: '#ffffff', ui_header_background: '#192C58', services_exclude: 'print'} Hiyabusa: in the swill of liberalism and conservatism ,one is...

Mel by ministr školství Dobeš podat demisi kvuli cerpání penez z EU? (zpráva)

Celkem hlasovalo 2632 uzivatelu. Další zprávy

Dnes je 4.1.2012, svátek má Diana

Recko varovalo, ze bez druhé financní pomoci opustí eurozónu

—————

Ve veku 87 let podlehl rakovine spisovatel Josef Škvorecky

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-2241170-2");pageTracker._setDomainName("ceskenoviny.cz");pageTracker._initData();pageTracker._trackPageview();

Capturetr
yakamoz01 friend