Antonín Jaroslav Liehm (2 March 1924 – 4 December 2020) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

-born writer, publisher, translator, and scholar residing in Paris. In 1984, Antonín J. Liehm founded the European culture magazine ''

Lettre International ''Lettre International'' is the title of a number of cultural magazines published in various languages in Europe. The history of ''Lettre International'' dates back to 1984, the year that the original French edition (''Lettre Internationale'') fir ...

''. The French version ceased publication in 1993, but some of its many offspring remain in publication. Notably, the German version of the magazine has come out continuously since its foundation in 1988.

Biography

Antonín J. Liehm studied political sciences at in Prague, graduating in 1949.

Kulturní politika

In 1945, Liehm, along with

Emil František Burian Emil František Burian (11 June 1904 – 9 August 1959) was a Czech poet, journalist, singer, actor, musician, composer, dramatic adviser, playwright and director. He was also active in Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politics. Early life an ...

, founded a weekly magazine, titled '' Kulturní politika'' (Cultural politics). The magazine was pro-communist and would eventually be taken over and kept in publication by the Czech Writers' Association. Foreign minister

Vladimír Clementis Vladimír "Vlado" Clementis (20 September 1902 Tisovec – 3 December 1952 Prague) was a Slovak minister, politician, lawyer, publicist, literary critic, author and a prominent member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. He married Lída Pátkov ...

offered Liehm a position in the ministry's press department. Clementis was hanged in 1952, after the Stalinist Slánský trial. Subsequently Liehm himself was fired from his position at the ministry and at the magazine. In 1956 Liehm was hired back, then finally let go again in 1960.

''Literární noviny''

In 1960, Liehm started work at the literary magazine '' Literární noviny''. Liehm took over as editor in 1960/1961. The magazine's circulation went up to 130,000 copies per issue. Among those working close to Liehm at the time were

Ludvík Vaculík Ludvík Vaculík (23 July 1926 – 6 June 2015) was a Czech writer and journalist. He was born in Brumov, Moravian Wallachia. A prominent samizdat writer, he was best known as the author of the " Two Thousand Words" manifesto of June 1968. Pre- ...

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...

, Jan Procházka,

Pavel Kohout Pavel Kohout (born 20 July 1928) is a Czech and Austrian novelist, playwright, and poet. He was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, a Prague Spring participant and dissident in the 1970s until he was not allowed to return from Au ...

and

Ivan Klíma Ivan Klíma (born 14 September 1931 in Prague, as Ivan Kauders) is a Czech novelist and playwright. He has received the Magnesia Litera award and the Franz Kafka Prize, among other honors.Prague Spring after the 1968

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

Emigration and Lettre International

In 1969 Liehm emigrated to Paris with his wife Drahomíra N. Liehm. After temporarily accepting a teaching position at Richmond College-CUNY in the USA, Liehm and his wife returned to Paris in 1982, where he held a post at the

Paris Diderot University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (french: Université Paris Diderot), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 197 ...

and later at the

École des hautes études en sciences sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

. Liehm taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1979 until 1983. His daughter stated he lived in Paris for 32 years overall while he spent 12 years in the USA, where he obtained US citizenship. In 1984 Liehm founded the magazine ''Lettre International'', along with writer Paul Noirot. Liehm described the magazine's concept in these words: "If we had a good text, whether German, American, Russian, then we sought out a context for it. Other texts that would surround it, provide commentary, even if they were not written for that purpose at all. ��Our goals was to produce a play of mirrors around a text." In 2013, he resettled from Paris back to Prague, where he died in 2020 aged 96.

Bibliography

*Louis Aragon, Antonín J. Liehm: ''Cestující z imperiálu: román. Spisy (Louis Aragon)''. SNKLU, 1962 *''Gespräch an der Moldau. Das Ringen um die Freiheit der Tschechoslowakei'', DEA. Molden, München 1968. *''Gespräche an der Moldau. Über humanen Sozialismus. Mit dem Essay von Jean-Paul Sartre "Der Sozialismus, der aus der Kälte kam"''. Translated from Czech by Erich Bertleff, Kindler, München 1970 *''Trois générations: entretiens sur le phénomène culturel tchécoslovaque'', from Collection Témoins, Gallimard, 1970 *''Josef Škvorecký'', Gallimard, 1970 *Antonín J. Liehm, 飯島周: 三つの世代, みすず書房, 1970 *''The politics of culture'', Grove Press, 1971 *''Closely watched films: the Czechoslovak experience'', International Arts and Sciences Press, 1974, *''Le Passé présent'', J.C. Lattès, 1974 *Antonín J. Liehm, Miloš Forman: ''The Miloš Forman stories'', International Arts and Sciences Press, 1975, *Antonín J. Liehm,

Karel Kosík Karel Kosík (26 June 1926 – 21 February 2003) was a Czechs, Czech Marxist philosopher. In his most famous philosophical work, ''Dialectics of the Concrete'' (1963), Kosík presents an original reinterpretation of the ideas of Karl Marx in light ...

: ''Letteratura e dissenso nell'Europa dell'Est. Il Dissenso culturale.'' La biennale di Venezia, 1977 *Mira Liehm, Antonín J. Liehm: ''Il Cinema nell'Europa dell'Est, 1960–1977: il cinema di Stato e i suoi artisti. Il Dissenso culturale'', La biennale di Venezia, 1977 *Henry Gabay, Antonín J. Liehm: ''Serghiej Paradjanov: testimonianze e documenti su l'opera e la vita. Il Dissenso culturale.'' La Biennale di Venezia, 1977 *''Nocne rozmowy z Josefem Smrkovskim. Nowa umowa społeczna'', Niezależna Oficyna Wydawnicza, 1978 *Josef Smrkovský, Antonín J. Liehm, Jan Teren: ''Nocne rozmowy z Josefem Smrkovskim: Nowa umowa społeczna / A. J. Liehm'', Niezależna Oficyna Wydawnicza, 1978 *Peter Kussi, Antonín J. Liehm: ''The Writing on the wall: an anthology of contemporary Czech literature'', Karz-Cohl Pub., 1983 *Robert Buchar, Antonin J. Liehm: ''Czech New Wave Filmmakers in Interviews'', Mcfarland & Co Inc 2003, *Antonín J. Liehm, Aleksandar S. Ilić: Miloš Forman: događaji. From Prilozi za istoriju filma. Institut za film, 1987 *''Generace'', Index, 1988 *Antonín J. Liehm, Carsten Jensen, Hans Andersen, Jesper Hoffmeyer: ''Lettre internationale: et nyt Europa?: en ny moral?: et nyt demokrati?. nmeldelse', Aarhus Festuge, 1992, *Ostře sledované filmy: Československá zkušenost, Band 16 von Knihovna Iluminace, Národní Filmový Archiv, 2001,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liehm, Antonin Jaroslav Writers from Prague 1924 births 2020 deaths Czech expatriates in France Czech male journalists Czech male writers Czech film critics Czech literary critics Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) French–Czech translators StB Czech magazine founders