Worlds of dissent : Charter 77, the Plastic People of the Universe, and Czech culture under communism /

This is an impressive attempt at reconceptualizing the received view of Czech underground culture between 1968 and 1989 from a new, imaginative perspective. Among the merits of this study is the wealth of material accumulated in it. If for no other reason, this makes the book an indispensable source of information about modern Czech society and culture. This extensive "database" of material serves Bolton (Slavic languages and literatures, Harvard) as a stepping-stone for his presentation of several "stories"; the yarns with which he weaves the rich tapestry of Czech dissent--the aftermath of "normalization" that radically altered the role that the writers and intellectuals performed in Czech society; the emergence of Charter 77 (a civic initiative demanding human rights) from the trial of the music underground (in particular The Plastic People band); and finally, the early years of Charter 77 with its heated polemics about the mission of this diffuse association and the competing views of its future agenda. What arises from this kaleidoscopic display is recognition that the dissent is infinitely more than a sum of the texts it generated: it is a special modus of social existence that in its fluid heterogeneity resists any neat streamlining or totalizing. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. P. Steiner University of Pennsylvania