Central and Eastern Europe has suffered long periods of political oppression and dictatorship over the past century, which has profoundly influenced its literature. Authors such as Vaclav Havel, Milan Kundera, György Konrád, Imre Kertész, and Andrzej Stasiuk, as well as poets like Wislawa Szymborska and Czesław Miłosz, have dealt with authoritarian regimes, censorship, and persecution in various ways, finding language to articulate what cannot be said publicly. The literary resistance has not only included political and social criticism but also the assertion of human dignity. In contemporary Europe, the 2025 Nobel laureate László Krasznahorkai has sought to give literary form to resistance against rising authoritarian trends and xenophobia.
Krasznahorkai’s Swedish translator, Daniel Gustafsson, will converse here with Stefan Ingvarsson, an analyst at the Center for Eastern European Studies with a background in publishing, cultural journalism, and literary translation, and has also been a cultural advisor at the Swedish Embassy in Moscow for 5 years.
Date och time: Wednesday March 18, 17.15–18.00
Place: Uppsala City Library, Free Admission!
Language: Swedish