Vaclav Havel: The Intellectual Conscience of International Politics : An Introduction, Appreciation & Critique

Rating:
Summary: We Still Need A Good Introduction to Vaclav Havel
Review: After the fiasco of John Keane's revisionist / slash-and-burn biography of Vaclav Havel, it is nice to read a book that tries to summarize the real contributions of this man without all the fuss. Sire makes an honest effort to grapple with the political and intellectual complexities of Havel's plays and treatises. He also correctly understands that the English-speaking world needs a short and sweet introduction that is accessible to a variety of non-specialist audiences. If you happen to be teaching a world drama or a comparative politics seminar, and you want to spend a week on Havel, you might want to assign this book to be read in tandem with The Memorandum or "The Power of the Powerless." However, the book has significant limitations. The main difficulty stems from someone whose ghost continues to inspire trouble: Martin Heidegger. Sire is quite right to situate Heideggerian categories like "the horizon of Being" as central to Havel's thought and work. Unfortunately, he has a weak grasp on this discourse, both philosophically and historically. The result is that Sire tends to portray Havel as a kind of mystic throughout the book. Couple this with Sire's wish to offer an "appreciation" of Havel, and the result is a hagiography of an already familiar kind.
Until someone writes the 150 page introduction to Vaclav Havel that we need (Paul Wilson, do you have your ears on?), you should pick up Aviezer Tucker's The Philosophy and Politics of Czech Dissidence from Patocka to Havel (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000).

Rating:
Summary: A Good Starting Place
Review: For the person who knows nothing about Vaclav Havel, Sire has written a very good, basic introduction to the writings and actions of one of the most amazing thinkers in the world today. In a short space the reader is quickly introduced to the plays, politics, and philosophies of the absurdist playwright and political dissident who became the president of the Czech Republic. While there are a few points at which it seems that Sire may be imposing some of his own American Evangelical definitions on the terms that Havel uses, overall the book works well as a guide for the beginning Havel reader.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Starting Place
Review: For the person who knows nothing about Vaclav Havel, Sire has written a very good, basic introduction to the writings and actions of one of the most amazing thinkers in the world today. In a short space the reader is quickly introduced to the plays, politics, and philosophies of the absurdist playwright and political dissident who became the president of the Czech Republic. While there are a few points at which it seems that Sire may be imposing some of his own American Evangelical definitions on the terms that Havel uses, overall the book works well as a guide for the beginning Havel reader.