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Václav Havel's multifaceted role in Czech politics since the late 1960s has earned him the global reputation of being something of a renaissance political man. His authorship of numerous plays and political essays, his centrality in the foundation of the human rights movement Charter 77, his contributions to the underground samizdat literature, and his unbending resolve to remain true to the principles of justice, responsibility, and action no matter the consequences can offer only a partial explanation for his level of notoriety at home and abroad. The irony with which his writings and lived experiences have been infused reached its penultimate expression when the self-ascribed "antipolitical" playwright entered the official arena of politics as president of the former Czech and Slovak Federative Republic and, following its collapse in 1992, the Czech Republic. Since then, Havel has abandoned dramatic literature in favor of overseeing the practical, urgent, and complex process of simultaneous political and economic transition. Despite his recent departure from that office, Havel continues to be one of the most visible, reliable, and elegant voices of morality and responsibility in the Czech Republic.
However, in the rush to analyze Havel's overtly political side, political scientists and political theorists have overlooked some of his most important writings - his plays - leaving them to the care of disciplines "more suited" to the examination of literary texts. Havel's ideas and theories, found in such volumes as the book-length interview - Disturbing the Peace, the highly personal prison writings - Letters to Olga, the reprisal of his most important writings - Open Letters, the post-revolutionary reflection - Summer Meditations, and the collection of presidential documents and speeches - The Art of the Impossible, are widely considered by political scientists to be the primary, if not only, loci of his political thought. I maintain, however, that such a position is insufficient and is exemplary of an academic territorialism and chauvinism that can only produce, at best, a lacuna in understanding and, at worst, a misinterpretation of Havel's ethico-political critiques and prescriptions. Any treatment of his writings that ignores either the prosaic or dramatic forms is necessarily incomplete, for the themes, subject matter, and style of each are consonant (Isaac, 1996; Matustik, 1990/1991; Nelson 1996; Orbman 1993; and Skloot 1993)....