Havel translations hit the market

The Chinese translations of two books by former Czech Republic president Vaclav Havel were launched by a local publisher yesterday.

The books feature the famous Eastern European dissident's literary criticism and political essays on guiding the former communist country into a functioning democracy.

The Chinese translation of the two books The Power of the Powerless (無權力者的權力) and A Farewell to Politics (政治，再見!), were compiled by overseas Chinese dissident Bei Ling (貝嶺), who is in exile in New York and is a writer-in-residence for the New York Public Library.

The Power of the Powerless contains excerpts of Havel's literary creations and speeches, as well as Havel's characteristic criticism of Czechoslovakia's communist ruled society and his concern for the wider world through his experiences as an imprisoned political dissident, and a patriotic writer.

A Farewell to Politics is a collection of Havel's speeches, all drafted by himself during his 13-year presidency and features his determined ideals to construct an ethical world within the political arena.

A playwright-turned-politician, Havel, 67, had successfully led the "Velvet Revolution" in 1989 to overthrow the country's communist rulers and became the first president of Czechoslovakia and later of the Czech Republic. He left office on at the beginning of this month.

The top Czech representative to Taiwan, Michal Kral, yesterday said at a press conference for the launch of the book that "we, the Czech, are very proud to see the dramatic turns of the different roles of president Havel who has been a writer, dissident and politician before."

"We are also looking forward to see where he will go next and whether he will return to his writing career," Kral said yesterday.

Taiwan's Deputy Secretary-General to the President Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), who attended the launch of the book on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), said yesterday that "Havel's experiences as a political dissident who became the leader of a democratic Czech Republic, and his avid aspirations for freedom and human rights, identify with the traces of Taiwan's anti-authoritarianism movements in the past."

Wu said that the DPP government respected and recognized Havel's efforts to bring democracy to Czechoslovakia and his determined high standards for political ethics.

Amid criticism that Havel's metaphysical philosophy and perfectionist views brought little improvement to the Czech Republic's economic development, vice secretary-general of the DPP, Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), disagreed with the criticism, saying "It's Havel's monumental contribution to the former Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic by democratizing the former and stabilizing the latter."

"He led Czechoslovakian society through a smooth changeover from communism to democracy," Lee said.

The DPP government hopes to invite Havel to visit Taiwan. However, because of Havel's fragile health conditions and the current murky political climate in the Czech Republic after Havel stepped down, he was prevented from visiting Taiwan, said Bei Ling, who had interviewed Havel for the compilation of the books.

"Havel is suffering from lung cancer and his poor health conditions won't allow him to make long distance overseas trips now. Furthermore, he has to stay in the Czech Republic to observe the political environment since the nation hasn't elected a new president since he resigned," Bei Ling said.