I Hid It Somewhere

By Václav Havel

An English translation of a lost manuscript of reflections from former Czech dissident V clav Havel.

In the fall of 1977, after the dramatic events of the "Year of Charter 77," V clav Havel wrote a report recounting the first hours after the Charter 77 Declaration, the four months of investigative detention imposed on him by the communist regime, his release, and the agonizing self-examination that followed. In this text, the former dissident describes not only the investigation but also the Faustian guilt he felt after promising to scale back his political activities in exchange for his freedom. As he later recalled in a book-length interview with journalist Karel Hv zdala titled D lkov v slech (Long-distance interrogation), he hid the roughly one-hundred-page manuscript somewhere, admitting: "I don't know where it is anymore. Maybe I'll find it someday." He never did. The manuscript resurfaced only recently, discovered among the papers of his close friend Zdenek Urb nek. Fragmentary yet strikingly immediate, the text has been reconstructed and published by the V clav Havel Library, with the English translation appearing on the occasion of the world-renowned intellectual's ninetieth birthday.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 8024663724
• ISBN13: 9788024663722
• Release Date: November 2026
• Publisher: Karolinum Press, Charles University
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.