Ivan Klima: In Conversation

Harvard Book Store and PEN New England welcome renowned Czech novelist and playwright Ivan Klima for a discussion of his memoir, My Crazy Century, in conversation with Richard Hoffman.

“A candid, illuminating memoir of a man who retained his humanity in inhumane times, and used the light of reason to resist an absurdist regime. Klíma’s account of living in the shadow of censorship and in the spotlight of Cold War events gives us intimate insight into the vicissitudes of literature in ‘the Other Europe,’ and the exceptional courage required of writers in repressive epochs to speak simple truths to capricious power.” —Eva Hoffman

In his intimate autobiography, spanning six decades that included war, totalitarianism, censorship, and the fight for democracy, Ivan Klíma reflects back on his remarkable life and this critical period of twentieth-century history.