Václav Havel’s remarkable and rousing essay on the tyranny of apathy, with a new introduction by Timothy Snyder
Cowed by life under Communist Party rule, a greengrocer hangs a placard in their shop window: Workers of the world, unite! Is it a sign of the grocer’s unerring ideology? Or a symbol of the lies we perform to protect ourselves?
Written in 1978, Václav Havel’s meditation on political dissent – the rituals of its suppression, and the sparks that re-ignite it – would prove the guiding manifesto for uniting Solidarity movements across the Soviet Union. A portrait of activism in the face of falsehood and intimidation, The Power of the Powerless remains a rousing call against the allure of apathy.

As president of Czechoslovakia and of the nascent Czech Republic, playwright-turned-statesman Havel led central Europe out of communism and into the twenty-first century before stepping down in 2003. With this book, Havel reflects upon his 14 years at Prague Castle but resists the constraints of a traditional memoir, instead combining retrospective commentary with excerpts from memos written to his staff while in office. Although fragmentary and offered with minimal context, these excerpts provide a diarylike glimpse into a leader simultaneously confronting challenges both major (Havel's struggle against so-called Mafia capitalism) and mundane (Havel's struggle to master his own computer system). Besides providing insightful, gently ironic commentary on the rigors of democratic leadership, Havel's unconventional narrative form also highlights his personality--his struggles with writing, his fondness for smokers, and his admiration for Madeleine Albright--somewhat above his significant personal achievements. He also weighs in on current events, including the Iraq War and the obstacles to complete European unification. The net result is a fresh and intimate self-portrait.

瓦茨拉夫·哈维尔，出生于1936年10月5日，捷克的剧作家与异议人士，于1993年到2002年间担任捷克共和国的总统。他不到两年半，希特勒的铁骑就占领了他的祖国；十二岁的时候，也就是一九四八年，发生了二月革命。因此，哈维尔 一生迄今为止六十二年的时间绝大部分都是在右的和左的极权主义之下度过的。 虽然他几乎没有过过比较正常的生活，但是由于良知，由于他相信“潜藏于人民心底的人道的与民主的传统”，他还是能够对极权社会作出深刻的反思与批判，为争取真实的生活而奋斗。他坚持不懈地这样做了，终于成功了。
目录
序一：无权者的权力和反政治的政治
序二：存在的意义和道德的政治
第二口气
给胡萨克的公开信
说出真实总是有意义
宪法第202条
无权者的权力（上）
无权者的权力（中）
无权者的权力（下）
论“七七”宪章的意义
狱中书简
政治与良心
故事与极权主义
回忆弗朗蒂塞克·克瑞杰
1990年新年献词
政治、道德和教养
我相信什么
知识分子的责任
在堪培拉国际出版俱乐部的讲演
谒见(独幕剧)
误会(独幕剧)
对沉默的解剖
给奥尔嘉的信
后共产主义的奇特纪元
我们变化着的时代与人的新尺度
全球化之祸福
人权高於国家主权
全球文明、多元文化、大众传播与人类前途
论国家及其未来地位
向政治告别
捷克总统哈维尔告别演说

本書為捷克前總統哈維爾的文集, 精選了他多年來在各界發表的文章, 其內容不僅包涵他在政治力場上的見地, 還充分反應了其身為知識分子的自覺, 對自己的期許和對於世界的展望.

English, Czech (translation)

Václav Havel’s remarkable and rousing essay on the tyranny of apathy, with a new introduction by Timothy Snyder

Cowed by life under Communist Party rule, a greengrocer hangs a placard in their shop window: Workers of the world, unite! Is it a sign of the grocer’s unerring ideology? Or a symbol of the lies we perform to protect ourselves?

Written in 1978, Václav Havel’s meditation on political dissent – the rituals of its suppression, and the sparks that re-ignite it – would prove the guiding manifesto for uniting Solidarity movements across the Soviet Union. A portrait of activism in the face of falsehood and intimidation, The Power of the Powerless remains a rousing call against the allure of apathy.

'Havel’s diagnosis of political pathologies has a special resonance in the age of Trump' Pankaj Mishra

Contents:
pt. 1. Six texts by Václav Havel --
Letter to Dr Gustáv Husák --
The power of the powerless --
Six asides about culture --
Politics and conscience --
Thriller --
An anatomy of reticence --

pt. 2. Sixteen texts for Václav Havel --
Catastrophe / Samuel Beckett --
Courtesy towards God / Heinrich Böll --
Prague : a poem, not disappearing / Timothy Garton Ash --
Ex-prophets and storysellers / Jiří Gruša --
From Variations and reflections on topics in Václav Havel's prison letters / Ladislav Hejdánek --
Citizen versus state / Harry Järv --
The chaste centaur / Pavel Kohout --
Conversations 36 / Iva Kotralá --
Candide had to be destroyed / Milan Kundera --
I think about you a great deal / Arthur Miller --
When I was still living in Prague / Zdena Salivarová --
The sorrowful satisfaction of the powerless / Milan Šimečka --
I saw Václav Havel for the last time / Josef Škvorecký --
Introduction to The memorandum / Tom Stoppard --
Letter to a prisoner / Zdeněk Urbǎnek --
On the house / Lukvík Vaculík.