Václav Havel, The Vaněk Plays: Audience, Vernisáž (Unveiling), Protest

Mary Orsak (Yale University); Karen von Kunes (Yale University)

Ed. by Charles Sabatos, Yeditepe University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.8.1: Czech and Slovak Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Charles Sabatos (Yeditepe University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1976 - 1987

Places

Czech Republic (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Drama

Resources

The trilogy of one-act plays by Václav Havel, Audience, Vernisáž [Unveiling] and Protest (the first two written in 1975 and the third in 1978), are often known as the Vaněk plays (“vaňkovky” in Czech) because they are connected through the character Ferdinand Vaněk, whose biography closely resembles the author’s: a former playwright prohibited from publicly staging his plays and resigned to working in a brewery. Havel initially wrote Audience and Unveiling to amuse his friends, but they were among his most successful both domestically and internationally. While the character of Vaněk links the trilogy into one series, Protest emerged …

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Citation: Orsak, Mary, Karen von Kunes. "The Vaněk Plays: Audience, Vernisáž (Unveiling), Protest". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2021 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40572, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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