User:Risetteer/Temptation/LitReview

This is the sandbox for the literature review of Vaclav Havel's "Temptation."

Trevon's Sources Source 1: "Remembering the many Vaclav Havels" <http://johnkeane.net/32/news/remembering-the-many-vaclav-havels>. Online article

This article is written by John Keane about what he learned while spending time with Vaclav Havel. The article disccusses the multiple sides of Vaclav Havel. The politician, poet, and dissidant, Vaclav Havel. Overall, the article comes from a first person perspective. Keane apparently met Havel on a trip to prague for his research.

The article contains a few things. As stated earlier, the article is divided into sections: Havel the politician, Havel the poet, and Havel the dissident. Since the account of Havel is from only one person, the article does get a little sidetracked on minor details and such, the article does provide a some useful info about Havel's tendencies, his way of seeing this, etc. The article also has some links to works/articles by Havel. Thankfully the article does mainly discuss Havel, and not the time Keane spent with him.

Source 2: "Keane, John." Vaclav Havel- A Political Tragedy in Six Acts-a biography

This is a biography of Havel's life. Written by John Keane, who had presumably large access to Havel. The book goes from his early life and up, stopping about a decade short of his death. The book, as suggested by its title, is divided into six parts. It does not focus on "Temptation" specifically, but since it does dwell on his life, the basis, ideas, and themes for the play can be drawn from the hardships and struggles of his life.

Source 3: "Václav Havel on the temptations of political power." <http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~vl/notes/havel.html>. a speech by Vaclav Havel

This is a speech made by Havel on his acceptance of the Sonning Prize. The speech was made in 1991, with the award celebrating Havel's intellectual successes. Overall, Havel talks of the difficulties of having power, specifically political power; he says that it is a constant struggle, as he often battles to avoid becoming more like the power-hungry totalitarian government he loathed. The content of the speech deals with the reasons people pursue political power, and how their reasons can affect their effectiveness in office. For example, some people enter politics for self-affirmation, for the control, and some simply (hopefully) for the betterment of society. He also tells, from the point-of-view of a politician, what dangers are ever-present in the life of a politician, such as getting too accustomed to the "benefits" and "perks" that come with the job and straying from the actual purpose and responsibilities that it entails. Overall, I deem this a useful document in the evaluation of "Temptation" since the temptations and paradoxes involved with power are so prevalent a theme in this speech.

Trey Burns

Source 1:

Rupnik, Jacques. “In Praise of Vaclav Havel.” <http://www.tnr.com/article/world/98687/in-praise-vaclav-havel?page=0,1>

This is an essay stemming from a speech given at the awarding of a honorary degree of political sciences to Vaclav Havel. Rupnik speaks of Havel’s idea of politics and theater being inseparable. Rupnik also describes Havel’s life as occurring in three distinct stages. The first as a playwright in the 1960’s, a dissident of the 1970’s and 1980’s, and finally as president from 1989-2003. The essay goes on to speak of the new schools of thought that have developed from the ideas of Havel and his present-day relevance.

An essay like this should provide plenty of evidence as to the political commentary going on in Temptation. Also, because so much information is given on Havel’s fascination with “governing through fear,” there will be plenty of parallels to be drawn between the essay and the play. Rupnik dedicates a great deal of time talking about Havel’s idea of an individual becoming ”in his way both a victim and a supporter of the system.” This is clearly embodied by Foustka in Temptation.

On the other hand, Rupnik uses a fair amount of emotionally charged language, which means he may be over-exaggerating the brilliance and political relevance of Havel. The biggest pitfall of this essay is that it is actually a translation from its original French speaker.

Source 2:

Ericson, Eric E. “Living Responsibly: Vaclav Havel’s View.” <http://www.acton.org/pub/religion-liberty/volume-8-number-5/living-responsibly-václav-havels-view>

This article is geared a little more towards the morality of Havel’s political techniques. Ericson writes about the congruence of Havel’s ideas and the beliefs of ordinary Americans. He also speaks of the tremendous amount of respect people in America had for Havel, regardless of whether or not they agreed with him.

The goal of the entire article is to highlight the moral, if not religious, baseline of Havel’s ideals. Ericson talks about Havel’s disdain for bureaucracy in his plays, and this is blatantly obvious in Temptation.

While this is a credible source, the religious bias is obvious in some places. Ericson often brings in Havel’s moral principles when talking about the capitalistic ways of the West, “If [the West’s] own consumer affluence remains more important to it than the laudable foundations of the affluence, it will soon forfeit that affluence.” The reader should be careful to be sure not to take some of Havel’s words out of context.

Jordan Campbell

Source 1

Fitzsimmons, Lorna. Lives of Faust: The Faust Theme in Literature and Music: A Reader. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 2008.

This text is a near-comprehensive record of the Faust myth, spanning its transitions from folk tale to literature to modern-day pop culture and the various changes that have arisen in the characters of Faust and Mephistopheles. The book is a "reader" in that it includes excepts of the literature and music that it analyzes, including Moby Dick, "Doctor Faustus", and Faustian rock operas and concept albums.

The primary usefulness of this resource is in the pages of attention it pays to Vaclav Havel's "Temptation." The information is right there. However, it also serves as a deeper examination of the Faust tale in general, which would be useful for noting the distinct changes that the play makes when compared to the original tales.I could further put this in the context of the contemporary Faustian adaptations and compare those. Also, the inclusion of concept albums, rock operas, and death metal lyrics indicates that this text will have more to offer than just textual criticisms of literary adaptations of the Faust story, but will also include the more public, pop-culture iterations.

Source 2

Brown, Jane K., Meredith Lee, and Thomas P. Saine. Interpreting Goethe's "Faust" Today. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1994.

This book is a collection of essays on ways to interpret Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's early play. The essays range from textual criticism to the question of its adaptability to modern American stages. It offers many different opinions on the classic tale, some of which are in German.

What is good about this collections of essays is that some of them focus explicitly on how the characters should be played for modern audiences--this could easily be compared to the characters that Havel created, as they were played for modern-day audiences, as well. Other essays focus explicitly on the use of representation in the play, which Havel toys with throughout "Temptation," especially in the costume party of the final scene. In the simplest way, "Temptation" owes much inspiration to Goethe's script and would therefore be better understood with a side-by-side analysis.