Article by Jill Goodman about Lawrence Weschler’s Calamities of Exile: Three Nonfiction Novellas

Lawrence Weschler’s book entails the exploits of three men who risk their lives and families in order to wound the totalitarian beasts that have overcome their home countries. Weschler uses these men to show readers exactly how a totalitarian regime, as Jill Goodman explains, “ravages the human soul.” One of the men in the novel, Jan Kavan, was a Czech who structured the group of exiles that congregated in London years after Prague Spring in 1968. I found this interesting considering our discussions on the subject of Prague Spring and those who left Czechoslovakia because of the Russian influence. Further more, Weschler’s book seems to hold valuable viewpoint from people who were actually present during Prague Spring, and the unique viewpoint of a man who helped keep the London community of Czechs together. I should also mention that the man Weschler writes about, Jan Kavan, was also suspected of being apart of the secret police, who bugged Czech houses and generally invaded the privacy of their own people. If Kavan was actually apart of the secret police, then perhaps his strong opposition to the people he once worked for relates to the things he has experienced and the cruelty he may have enforced. I will leave the link to the brief article below.

Link:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-05-31/entertainment/9805310098_1_fairy-tale-exile-aim-at-saddam-hussein