IVAN KLIMA
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was born in Prague in 1931. He edited the journal of the Czech Writer's Union during the Prague Spring. In 1969, he was visiting professor at the University of Michigan, but he returned to Czechoslovakia the following year. His books include My Golden Trades and The Spririt of Prague, both published by Granta Books.
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THE SPIRIT OF PRAGUE (1994)
The Powerful and the Powerless, p. 104
[...] There is not a power on earth that has not relied on some form of terror. Man lived not merely in fear of invaders who would ride furiously in from the distance, he lived in fear of gods or of God and his representatives on earth. He lived in fear of the authority of officers and of the bailiffs of his own masters, in fear of losing his home or the food he needed to stay alive or his land or his work.
Every effort to liberate man has in fact been an effort to liberate him from fear, to create conditions in which he would not feel his dependency as a threat. [...]
The fear that sleeps in the beds of the powerless gives a strong impetus to their dreams and their actions. The powerless person longing to escape his anxiety usually sees only two ways out: to flee beyond the reach of the hostile powers, or to become powerful himself. Fear engenders dreams of power. [...]
The Beginning and the End of Totalitarianism, pp.117-118
[...] There is not a power on earth that has not relied on some form of terror. Man lived not merely in fear of invaders who would ride furiously in from the distance, he lived in fear of gods or of God and his representatives on earth. He lived in fear of the authority of officers and of the bailiffs of his own masters, in fear of losing his home or the food he needed to stay alive or his land or his work.
Every effort to liberate man has in fact been an effort to liberate him from fear, to create conditions in which he would not feel his dependency as a threat. [...]
The fear that sleeps in the beds of the powerless gives a strong impetus to their dreams and their actions. The powerless person longing to escape his anxiety usually sees only two ways out: to flee beyond the reach of the hostile powers, or to become powerful himself. Fear engenders dreams of power. [...]
Our Tradition and the Limits of Growth, p. 151
[...] Great ideologies were fascinating either because they imagined a less problematic past or because they envisioned a harmonious future where everyone would receive everything according to his needs. Their often fantastic or naïve arguments and promises required more faith than reason, and they could scarcely have gained the massive currency they did, had the intellectuals not been dominated by feelings of disappointment, uselessness and the need to escape.
It was not just the intellectuals, however, or the creators who were disappointed, it was also the receivers, the audience. [...]
