Abstract

The special position of writers in the Czechoslovak society and the special role they have played in the cultural and political history of that country is stressed by every serious student — which of course makes it no less true. It is easy to overwhelm American friends with data reflecting the voracious appetite readers of that country have for good books, and with stories of the respect they have for their writers; and only a few years ago, prior to and during the Prague Spring, the role of writers in shaping the country's destiny was even greater than usual.

Politics is anything but nostalgic about relegating things into the wax museum of history, which is where the spring of 1968 seems to have ended up.