Michael Zantovsky - Havel: A Life

[Zantovsky] puts his words lightly on the page and allows them to merge into pictures. Irish Independent

this huge book is a labour of love that doesnt flinch from describing the complexes that made life difficult for Havel and those around him A contemporary hero perhaps has to be in the mould of HamletThere cant be a last word for someone like that, but this book comes as close to it as possible. Literary Review

Zantovsky was an elegant writer before he turned diplomat and this is a clear-eyed portrait that never descends into gush or hagiographyZantovskys account of the velvet revolution is masterly. Victor Sebestyen, The Spectator

the magnificent new biography by Michael Zantovsky Standpoint

Zantovskys talents as a diplomat, not to mention his gifts as an observer and writer, are apparent in this beautifully written biography. To tell the story of the man who made living in truth his motto you must tell the truth about him and Zantovsky sets about the task with exquisite politeness and also with genuine love for the person whose faults he describes the better to show the greatness that transcended them He tells the story with a flair for detail, almost as though he had stood at Havels shoulder, taking notes Roger Scruton, The Times

A sympathetic, well-documented and highly readable account[Zantovsky] is a fine storyteller; and there is a great story to be toldThis Life comes closer than any previous attempt to do justice to an extraordinary destiny which led Vclav Havel from dissidence to the Castle and back again. Jacques Rupnik, TLS

Micahel Zantovskys Havel is the authoritative biography of a great man, a true artist and a flawed character, by someone who shared Havels dissident background, and who writes of him with real insight and loveZantovsky is as intelligent and subtle as his subject, and his book an unforgettable tribute Roger Scruton, TLS Books of the Year

Michael Zantovskys biography of Vaclav Havel is a joy and an inspiration. Warm, wry, witty, it tells the life story of one of the greatest thinkers, writers and politicians of our time Zantovsky has paid his friend the ultimate compliment of not writing a hagiography but a superbly nuanced biography which will never be equalled. William Shawcross

As Havels close friend and collaborator for nearly 30 years, Zantovsky helps us admire and understand this philosopher king whose summons Power of the Powerless gave courage and hope to people around the globe. William Luers, former US ambassador to Czechoslovakia

First published in Great Britain in 2014
by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd.

Copyright Michael antovsk, 2014

The moral right of Michael antovsk to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Paperback ISBN: 978 0 85789 852 4

E-book ISBN: 978 0 85789 851 7

Extract from An Arundel Tomb Estate of Philip Larkin and reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd; Extract from Annus Mirabilis Estate of Philip Larkin and reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd; Extract from August 1968 Estate of W. H. Auden and reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd; Extract from In Memory of W. B. Yeats Estate of W. H. Auden and reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

Printed in Great Britain

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www.atlantic-books.co.uk

For David, Ester, Jon and Rebeka

All my life I have simply believed that what is once done can never be undone and that, in fact, everything remains forever. In short, Being has a memory. And thus even my insignificance as a bourgeois child, a laboratory assistant, a soldier, a stagehand, a playwright, a dissident, a prisoner, a president, a pensioner, a public phenomenon, and a hermit, an alleged hero but secretly a bundle of nerves will remain here forever, or rather not here, but somewhere. But not, however, elsewhere. Somewhere here.

Vclav Havel, To the Castle and Back

C ONTENTS

I LLUSTRATIONS

P ROLOGUE

THREE QUESTIONS SHOULD BE ASKED, at least implicitly, and answered, at least tentatively, before another small forest of trees falls victim to the idea of writing a book. Is the subject of any interest to anyone but the author? Have there been other treatments of the subject, which could satisfy such interest? Is the author the right person to write about the subject?

Vclav Havel was one of the more fascinating politicians of the last century. His unique riches-to-rags-to-riches life story is easily given to simplistic accounts, but there is no doubt that he played a prominent role in finally putting to rest one of the most alluring utopias of all time, and oversaw one of the most dramatic social transitions of recent history.

Although many people, including Havel himself, often marvelled at the fairy-tale nature of his sudden elevation to the highest job in the country, there had been in fact nothing miraculous or accidental about it. As this book will aim to show, the ambition to repair the world had been present in Havels life ever since, at the age of ten, he envisaged a factory manufacturing good rather than goods. Equipped with a hypertrophied sense of responsibility that led him to stand his ground and persist in the face of adversity, and with the less than conspicuous but all the more real discipline and industry with which he applied himself to the tasks at hand, he emerged in November 1989 not just as the most likely, but as the only plausible candidate for the leader of the revolution.

Even so, Havel cannot be simplistically reduced to a dissident or politician. He was also a formidable thinker, who consistently attempted toapply the results of his thinking process, as well as the moral precepts, which were at its core, to his practical engagement in the realm of politics. Some would question whether he was an original thinker of lasting significance. Although well read, he lacked the formal education, broader erudition and systematic discipline of a real scholar, and he was often wont to remind his readers and listeners of this handicap. His moral philosophy can be reduced to three concepts, which are inseparably linked to his name. The first, the power of the powerless, also the title of his best-known essay, is almost slogan-like in its simplicity. It makes for a great rallying cry, but at first sight it appears not to be applicable to most day-to-day situations, where power rests with the powerful, and the powerless are just that. Paradoxically, it is even harder to apply when the powerless suddenly find themselves in positions of power. And yet, this concept found an indelible expression in perhaps the only revolution in history that left no victims. The second, living in truth, has an almost messianic tinge, and exposes its author to charges of being starryeyed, hypocritical or worse. By most ordinary definitions of truth, Havel can sometimes be caught in contravention of his own teaching, and yet few can fault his determination to live up to the principle as best he could. The concept of responsibility, rooted in the memory of being, completes the triad. The rest, as they say, is commentary. Havel left behind no comprehensive work, and no formal philosophical system. In some of his metaphysical thinking, especially during his presidential days, he balances perilously on the brink of new-ageism and pop philosophy. For the most part, however, there is a crystal-like moral clarity and consistency to his thought.