Jan Trefulka
Encyclopedia
Jan Trefulka is a Czech writer, translator, literary critic and publicist. He attended school with the more internationally famous writer Milan Kundera
and they have been lifelong friends.
Critical of the communist regime, in 1950 he was expelled from the Czechoslovakian Communist Party
for "anti-party activities" along with Kundera. At the same time he was expelled from Charles University in Prague
where he was studying literature
and aesthetics
. Trefulka wrote about his run-in with the communist party in his first novella Pršelo jim štestí (Happiness Rained on Them, 1962
). Trefulka was involved with Samizdat
- the publishing and distributing of censored literature under communist rule, and was a signatory of Charter 77
.
Trefulka found it difficult to find work in the country after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
in 1968. He spent time unemployed and working as a manual labourer.
After the Velvet Revolution
and the downfall of the communist regime in 1989, he became more active in public life, becoming president of the Association of Moravian-Silesian Writers and a member of the first Czech Television Council.
Milan Kundera
Milan Kundera , born 1 April 1929, is a writer of Czech origin who has lived in exile in France since 1975, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1981. He is best known as the author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, and The Joke. Kundera has written in...
and they have been lifelong friends.
Critical of the communist regime, in 1950 he was expelled from the Czechoslovakian Communist Party
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia , abbreviated to KSČM, is a political party in the Czech Republic. It has a membership of 82,994 and is a member party of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left bloc in the European Parliament...
for "anti-party activities" along with Kundera. At the same time he was expelled from Charles University in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
where he was studying literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
. Trefulka wrote about his run-in with the communist party in his first novella Pršelo jim štestí (Happiness Rained on Them, 1962
1962 in literature
The year 1962 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 7 - In an article in the New York Times Book Review, Gore Vidal calls Evelyn Waugh "our time's first satirist."...
). Trefulka was involved with Samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
- the publishing and distributing of censored literature under communist rule, and was a signatory of Charter 77
Charter 77
Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...
.
Trefulka found it difficult to find work in the country after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
On the night of 20–21 August 1968, the Soviet Union and her main satellite states in the Warsaw Pact – Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic , Hungary and Poland – invaded the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in order to halt Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring political liberalization...
in 1968. He spent time unemployed and working as a manual labourer.
After the Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
and the downfall of the communist regime in 1989, he became more active in public life, becoming president of the Association of Moravian-Silesian Writers and a member of the first Czech Television Council.