Voices from Afar / Czech Literature in Exile 1948–1989

A multi-year research project prepared in cooperation with the Institute of Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences, under the direction of curator Michaela Kuthanová of the Literary Archive of the PNP, presents to the public the emergence, functioning and transformation of Czech exile literature after 1948.

The exhibition focuses on women and men authors who left socialist Czechoslovakia for political reasons, yet through their work continued to exert significant influence on the Czech cultural and literary space. The first, factual part of the exhibition describes the functioning of the exile literary environment and, through period exhibits, presents the most important book titles, publishers, cultural magazines and personalities who took part in publishing Czech literature abroad. The second part focuses on specific works by exile writers and offers visitors a closer encounter with their texts and life stories.

Archival documents and book materials are complemented by artworks, illustrations and examples of free art by artists who contributed to the form of exile publications (Zbyněk Sekal, Miroslav Šašek, Josef Šíma, Běla and Jiří Kolář, etc.). The exhibition includes an interactive section where visitors can look up specific authors, writers and projects on a map of Czech exile, look into the work of editors of Radio Svobodná Evropa, or watch the documentary film Behind the Iron Curtain, which records the recollections of prominent figures of Czech exile.

List of exhibited authors: Ivan Blatný, Vladimíra Čerepková, Jan Čep, Petr Den, Ivan Diviš, Viktor Fischl, Gertruda Goepfertová-Gruberová, Jiří Gruša, Egon Hostovský, Jiří Kolář, Karel Kryl, Milan Kundera, František Listopad, Zdeněk Němeček, Sylvie Richterová, Josef Škvorecký, Pavel Tigrid, Jan Vladislav, Robert Vlach.