Pavel Švanda

Intellectuals Who Do Not Feel Well

O intelektuálovi, který se necítí dobře O intelektuálovi, který se necítí dobře
O intelektuálovi, který se necítí dobře
Atlantis, 2012, 240 pp
Essay, Prose

Writing essays or similar literary forms means that the author is a thoughtful type, and thoughtfulness is a sign of being some kind of fuddy duddy, or even being conservative in these ‘fast-paced’ times. Pavel Švanda (1936), a writer and a journalist, is the representative of the 1936 Group, a group of generationally related artists (such as Václav Havel, Josef Topol or Věra Linhartová) who greatly influenced Czech literature (and, more broadly, culture) in the second half of the twentieth century. He writes both fiction and poetry, but the genre of essay is closest to his heart. What is typical of Švanda is his consistency in thinking and brilliant linguistic erudition thanks to which he analyses the present imprecise thinking where words cease to mean what they once meant or are reframed and mean something entirely different. The main point of his reasoning is the personal freedom of each of us, including the freedom of ideas which often change in a tragic cataclysm.

O intelektuálovi, který se necítí dobře
Atlantis, 2012, 240 pp