Střední Evropa je jako pták s očima vzadu - CDmp3

This Czech-language audiobook explores the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the role of T. G. Masaryk, parallels between Masaryk and Václav Havel, and the significant years ending in eight in Czech history. Jacques Rupnik has been present in the Czech media landscape since 1989, having written about the country from France even before the Velvet Revolution, when his texts were also read in Czechoslovakia. Born in Prague and living there until the age of fifteen, he knows the environment he writes about intimately and is not limited by a language barrier when studying sources. His political science studies at the Sorbonne and Harvard provided a strong academic foundation, and after November 1989 he worked for two years as an adviser to President Václav Havel. This audiobook is based on a selection of Rupnik’s engaging texts about the Czech past and present, complemented by an interview with Karel Hvížďala. Written in cultivated yet highly accessible language, the texts offer three perspectives on history and encourage listeners to reconsider established ideas about the past. The unusual title refers to Jorge Luis Borges’s Goofus Bird, which flies backwards because it cares not where it is going, but where it came from. Václav Jílek, Miloslav König and Igor Orozovič recorded the audiobook in spring 2021, with the concluding interview between Jacques Rupnik and Karel Hvížďala. The total running time is 6 hours and 52 minutes.