Islands of Goodness, Realm of Grey: Writing and Publishing in Czechoslovak Academia during Normalization (1969-1989)

OATES-INDRUCHOVÁ, Libora. Islands of Goodness, Realm of Grey: Writing and Publishing in Czechoslovak Academia during Normalization (1969-1989). In Writing under Socialism Past and Present: A Comparative Approach, U. of Nottingham. 2008.

Basic information

• Original name: Islands of Goodness, Realm of Grey: Writing and Publishing in Czechoslovak Academia during Normalization (1969-1989)
• Name in Czech: Islands of Goodness, Realm of Grey: Writing and Publishing in Czechoslovak Academia during Normalization (1969-1989)
• Name (in English): Islands of Goodness, Realm of Grey: Writing and Publishing in Czechoslovak Academia during Normalization (1969-1989)
• Authors: OATES-INDRUCHOVÁ, Libora.
• Edition: Writing under Socialism Past and Present: A Comparative Approach, U. of Nottingham, 2008.

Other information

• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Keywords in English: Conference presentation
• Tags: Conference presentation
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

The paper will discuss the mechanisms and relations involved in “walking” an academic manuscript through to publication in Normalization-era Czechoslovakia. It draws on interviews with academic writers from humanities and social sciences who were active within official publishing structures between 1969 and 1989 in Czechoslovakia. The interviews focused on the process of communicating an idea to a professional audience from its conception by the writer to post-publication reception, described by one of the interviewees as looking for “islands of goodness”--in the grey uniformity of intellectual repression. The distinguishing aspect of academic publishing in comparison to media or even literary publishing during this period was that it was not covered by the legislative restrictions on publishing and distribution, which were introduced after the actual censoring institution was abolished in 1968. Yet, multilayered censorship persisted, not only in literary, but also in academic writing and publishing. The paper examines the interrelatedness of the various agents and relations involved in the writing, publishing and distribution of academic texts in state-socialist Czechoslovakia: the stages of approval, personal strategies of the writers to succeed in publishing their work while avoiding persecution, the roles played by editors, Party officials, and the position of an academic discipline within Party cultural and science policies, and the problematic concept of authorship under state socialism itself.

Abstract (in Czech)

The paper will discuss the mechanisms and relations involved in “walking” an academic manuscript through to publication in Normalization-era Czechoslovakia. It draws on interviews with academic writers from humanities and social sciences who were active within official publishing structures between 1969 and 1989 in Czechoslovakia. The interviews focused on the process of communicating an idea to a professional audience from its conception by the writer to post-publication reception, described by one of the interviewees as looking for “islands of goodness”--in the grey uniformity of intellectual repression. The distinguishing aspect of academic publishing in comparison to media or even literary publishing during this period was that it was not covered by the legislative restrictions on publishing and distribution, which were introduced after the actual censoring institution was abolished in 1968. Yet, multilayered censorship persisted, not only in literary, but also in academic writing and publishing. The paper examines the interrelatedness of the various agents and relations involved in the writing, publishing and distribution of academic texts in state-socialist Czechoslovakia: the stages of approval, personal strategies of the writers to succeed in publishing their work while avoiding persecution, the roles played by editors, Party officials, and the position of an academic discipline within Party cultural and science policies, and the problematic concept of authorship under state socialism itself.

Abstract (in English)

The paper will discuss the mechanisms and relations involved in “walking” an academic manuscript through to publication in Normalization-era Czechoslovakia. It draws on interviews with academic writers from humanities and social sciences who were active within official publishing structures between 1969 and 1989 in Czechoslovakia. The interviews focused on the process of communicating an idea to a professional audience from its conception by the writer to post-publication reception, described by one of the interviewees as looking for “islands of goodness”--in the grey uniformity of intellectual repression. The distinguishing aspect of academic publishing in comparison to media or even literary publishing during this period was that it was not covered by the legislative restrictions on publishing and distribution, which were introduced after the actual censoring institution was abolished in 1968. Yet, multilayered censorship persisted, not only in literary, but also in academic writing and publishing. The paper examines the interrelatedness of the various agents and relations involved in the writing, publishing and distribution of academic texts in state-socialist Czechoslovakia: the stages of approval, personal strategies of the writers to succeed in publishing their work while avoiding persecution, the roles played by editors, Party officials, and the position of an academic discipline within Party cultural and science policies, and the problematic concept of authorship under state socialism itself.