Czechoslovakia: A Poet Speaks of Art and Liberty

For a Nobel laureate, words are a form of "patient resistance "

Before he was named this year's Nobel laureate in literature, Czech Poet Jaroslav Seifert, 83, was little known outside his homeland. For Czechs, it was a recognition that was overdue: he has long been revered for his insistence on artistic freedom. Even during the bleak days after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces, Seifert spoke out forcefully against the policies of the new Soviet-installed regime. For the next decade his writings were repressed, although his poetry is essentially...