A History of Literature Done Differently: Cover Image

Dějiny literatury jinak.
A History of Literature Done Differently:

Normalisation and Samizdat

Author(s): Michael Špirit
Subject(s): Czech Literature, Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze - Filozofická fakulta, Vydavatelství
Keywords: 970s and 1980s; publishing; distribution; bookstores; normalisation

Summary/Abstract: The post-1989 literary historical narrative that is found in certain literary handbooks distinguishes the phenomenon of samizdat during the 1970s and 1980s as a special case in the circulation of lite rature, treating it as a separate phenomenon from conventional literature and its dissemination, which goes from publishing to printing, then to distribution and the bookstore. This article presents an outline for considering samizdat as a kind of normality in the context of political totalitarianism, which claims on one hand to protect normality by ‘normalising’ the social environment, yet by doing so brings about the violent reversal of normal conditions.

  • Issue Year: 17/2020
  • Issue No: 35
  • Page Range: 175-178
  • Page Count: 4
  • Language: Czech