Vaněk trilogy
The Vaněk trilogy consists of three one-act acts Audience , Vernissage and Protest by Václav Havel , which were written between 1975 and 1979. It addresses the dichotomy and behavioral patterns of people in totalitarianism based on the different reactions of people to whom the dissident Ferdinand Vaněk meets.
Origin and reception history
Havel wrote the pieces in the period after the fall of the Prague Spring , when the communist system had reestablished its totalitarian methods. The Vaněk trilogy also contains autobiographical features. Like Václav Havel, the main character Ferdinand Vaněk is a vilified playwright who became involved as a dissident and was persecuted and arrested by the system.
Gabriel Laub translated the Vaněk trilogy into German. The theater plays Audienz and Vernissage were premiered on October 9, 1976 in the Academy Theater of the Vienna Burgtheater. In 1989 it was published by Rowohlt Verlag .
The figure Ferdinand Vaněk is also used in the works of Pavel Kohout and Jiří Dienstbier .
action
In the three pieces Vaněk meets different people, each of which depicts a different form of adaptation to oppression: spying , escaping into private life, and dodging .
audience
Vaněk earns his living in a brewery in the beer cellar as a laborer who rolls beer barrels. His superior, a master brewer, asks him for an audience and, after a lengthy introduction with plenty of beer, tells him that he has to deliver reports about him. The brewmaster shows understanding for Vaněk's situation and offers him the opportunity to switch to the more pleasant camp. In return, Vaněk is supposed to write the reports about himself.
Vernissage
A couple invites their best friend Vaněk to their apartment. In the “Vernissage” for Vaněk he is supposed to admire the newly designed apartment. They also extol parenthood and a fulfilled sex life. The host wants to play Vaněk his latest records, which he had bought in Switzerland, which Vanek repeatedly answers with “maybe later”. The couple suggests that the dissident should follow their path and stay away from critical people. They offer him and his wife, who did not accept the invitation, help with furnishing their home and other problems. When Vaněk refuses again and again and then wants to leave early, the hostess loses her composure and problems behind the beautiful facade become visible.
protest
Vaněk was invited by his artist colleague Stanek. Stanek needs the experienced political activist to draft and launch a letter of protest because his daughter is pregnant and the father-to-be has been arrested. Vaněk has already written down the protest and is ready to sign it. Then Stanek's behavior turns. In a long eloquent monologue, he explains why it is better for the success of the protest not to sign in order to cover up his fear of the consequences.
Film adaptations
- 1991: Vaněk trilogy (studio recording)
Individual evidence
- ^ Entry in the German National Library. Retrieved October 6, 2013 .
Web links
- Introduction to The Vaněk plays at Theater 61 Press