First time I heard of Vaclav Havel was in an interview by Lou Reed in a compilation of reportage (edited by, I want to say, Hanif Kureishi). Lou Reed had been invited to the newly democratic, newly independent Czech Republic. Performed in a private jam session - just Havel and two hundred of his friends. Was given a samizdat version of Velvet Underground lyrics. This was in the New College library one night, probably in my second year. I read all of Timothy Garton Ash's books on the underground democratic opposition in Eastern Europe (Central Europe?). I read about Solidarity and the discussions at the Magic Lantern theatre in Prague. I read Havel's "Power of the Powerlessness" essay, his idea of living in truth. I read Adam Michnik's essays. For a little while this was my secret not-quite-obsession, more delighted in for having stumbled upon it accidentally. I almost did an undergraduate dissertation on democracy in Eastern Europe on the strength of all these essays. I can't say I put into practice anything I learned from them about speaking truth to power; I didn't end up doing an undergraduate dissertation; I didn't end up doing anything remotely radical. But the romance, at least, has stayed all this while.
