Vaclav Havel claimed to want a quiet life dedicated to writing, but he lived exactly the opposite: as the most famous dissident via his poetry, plays, and essays in Czechoslovakia under Communist rule. This biography is the first to pay close attention to Havel s beginnings as a poet, placing his later, more famous works in the context of his poetical beginnings. In doing so, Kieran Williams sheds new light on Havel s formative years and the stylistic and philosophical influences that would come to shape one of the most famous Czech writers and political leaders of the twentieth century.
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