Travis Jeppesen
A speculative journey across a decade that found the exile
returning home to a place that had changed beyond measure
returning home to a place that had changed beyond measure
Book Description
Musician, artist and poet, Pavel Z. was one of the leading
figures of the Czech underground that operated outside the official culture
imposed by the former communist regime. The trial that sent him and several
others associated with the experimental rock group the Plastic People of
the Universe to prison for their activities gave rise to the human rights
declaration Charter 77. Later exiled, Pavel Z. first lived in Sweden and
then in New York City, eventually resettling in Prague in the mid-1990s.
Time Is a Mid-Night Scream is his poetic testimony of this period, a time
of transformation for both himself and his city.
figures of the Czech underground that operated outside the official culture
imposed by the former communist regime. The trial that sent him and several
others associated with the experimental rock group the Plastic People of
the Universe to prison for their activities gave rise to the human rights
declaration Charter 77. Later exiled, Pavel Z. first lived in Sweden and
then in New York City, eventually resettling in Prague in the mid-1990s.
Time Is a Mid-Night Scream is his poetic testimony of this period, a time
of transformation for both himself and his city.
About the Author
Pavel Z. (Zajicek) was born in Prague in 1951. During the 1970s
he and his experimental band DG 307 were part of the unofficial cultural
underground that was severely persecuted by Czechoslovakia's communist
regime. In 1976 he was sentenced to a year in prison, along with members of
the Plastic People of the Universe, for "disturbing the peace," after
having been initially charged with "state subversion," which the
authorities had to back away from after receiving worldwide condemnation.
This trial provided the impetus for the emergence of the human rights
declaration and movement Charter 77. Exiled in 1980, Pavel Z. lived in
Sweden, where he took citizenship, and then New York City for several years
before returning to Prague in the mid-1990s. He continues to play and
record with DG 307 and has had a number of volumes of his poetry and prose
published over the past decade.
he and his experimental band DG 307 were part of the unofficial cultural
underground that was severely persecuted by Czechoslovakia's communist
regime. In 1976 he was sentenced to a year in prison, along with members of
the Plastic People of the Universe, for "disturbing the peace," after
having been initially charged with "state subversion," which the
authorities had to back away from after receiving worldwide condemnation.
This trial provided the impetus for the emergence of the human rights
declaration and movement Charter 77. Exiled in 1980, Pavel Z. lived in
Sweden, where he took citizenship, and then New York City for several years
before returning to Prague in the mid-1990s. He continues to play and
record with DG 307 and has had a number of volumes of his poetry and prose
published over the past decade.
