This talk by Daniel W. Pratt introduces two prominent figures of the Czech 1980s generation – brothers Jachym and Filip Topol. Filip was the lead singer of Psi vojáci (Dog Soldiers), a legendary band that performed its first concert for Vaclav Havel himself. Jachym became a popular author of stories and unconventional novels. He was also an editor of Revolver Revue, an underground periodical. His apartment was the site for numerous dissident happenings. Although both brothers became dissidents and both signed Charter 77, they rejected the notion of a pre-political self and projected an almost nihilistic stance against everything.

Daniel W. Pratt is an Assistant Professor of Slavic Culture at McGill University. He works on Czech, Polish, Russian, Austrian, and Hungarian literature and culture, and his interests include narratology, dissent, nationality studies, aesthetics, and the intersection of literature and philosophy. His current book projects are Against Narrative: Non-narrative Constructions of Temporality in Central Europe and Bruno Jasieński, Internationalist, and he has written on Czechoslovak dissident punk rock, Gombrowicz’s interactions with Gilles Delleuze, and the meaning of history in Central Europe, amongst other topics. For the Fall semester of 2023, he is the István Deák Visiting Assistant Professor of East Central European Studies at Columbia University.

Free and open to the public. Seats are limited, on first-come first-served basis. RSVP through Eventbrite.

This event is organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), New York Chapter, with the support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.