Miracle in the Darkhouse (Zázrak v černém domě)

Abstract

About the Author: Milan Uhde (1936 in Brno) is a playwright, writer and politician from a Czech-Jewish assimilated family of lawyers. After graduating in Czech and Russian studies (1958), he became an editor for the prominent review for literature and art Host do domu. In the 1960s, he started his literary career writing three collections of stories and the satirical anti-regime play King Vávra (premiered 1964), followed by the play The Bitch of Thebes (1967). After the Soviet occupation in August of 1968, during the so-called normalisation, he was forced to publish either in samizdat or under assumed names. He was one of the first signatories of Charter 77. Just after the Velvet Revolution he became editor-in-chief of the publishing house Atlantis as well as a lecturer at Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. In 1990 he was appointed to the position of Czech Minister of Culture; he also represented ODS (Civic Democratic Party) in the Czech National Parliament and, after the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, he became the speaker of the House of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. In 1998 he decided to give up active politics and returned to writing and publishing. His earlier work was also republished by Atlantis.