Manuscripts of Czech writers and records of their plight at the hands of state security police in the former Czechoslovakia are on display at the National Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL) as part of the Contemporary Czech Literature Exhibition.
The exhibition, titled “Typewriters Can Also Sing,” is a collaboration among the NMTL, the Museum of Czech Literature and other cultural institutions in the Czech Republic. It features rarely seen manuscripts and documents of Czech writers from the 20th century, as well as translations of Czech writers’ work in Chinese.
During the “Normalization” period from 1968 to 1987, in which the former Czechoslovakian regime aimed to restore the political situation before the Prague Spring in 1968 and preserve the status quo, writers were closely watched by the state security police, and their works were banned by the government, the NMTL said.
Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Taiwan Literature
As such, many writers continued writing by going underground or fleeing to other countries, it said.
Typewriters played an important role in Czech literature, as Czech writers typed up manuscripts and had them secretly published to avoid a crackdown from the authoritarian regime, the NMTL said.
“The title of the exhibition shows a poetic imagination of Czech underground literature. The words that were typed out became melodies that inspired people to pursue freedom and democracy,” it said.
Items that are on display in the exhibition were borrowed from the Museum of Czech Literature, Moravian Library, Moravian Museum and other institutions.
Many of items in the exhibition are displayed in Asia for the first time, including Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal’s typewriter and manuscripts, audio books by writer Milan Kundera, security police records of writer Ivan Klima and books published by 68 Publishers, a Toronto-based publishing house that was founded by Czech expatriate Josef Skvorecky and his wife, Zdena Salivarova, in 1971 to publish books by Czech and Slovak writers whose works were banned in the former Czechoslovakia.
For the exhibition, the NMTL also showed a copy of Taiwan’s Tomorrow magazine published in 1930, in which The Insect Play — written by Czech playwrights Karl and Josef Capek — was translated into Chinese by the magazine’s founder Huang Tien-hai (黃天海). Prior to the exhibition, the copy was stored in the archived section of the National Taiwan Library.
The exhibition opened on Dec. 6 and is to run through March 2 next year.
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
President William Lai (賴清德) is expected to announce a new advanced “all-domain” air defense system to better defend against China when he gives his keynote national day speech today, four sources familiar with the matter said. Taiwan is ramping up defense spending and modernizing its armed forces, but faces a China that has a far larger military and is adding its own advanced new weapons such as stealth fighter jets, aircraft carriers and a huge array of missiles. Lai is expected to announce the air defense system dubbed “Taiwan Dome” in his speech this morning, one of the sources said. The system
RSS