Изборите на интелектуалеца. Случаят на Вацлав Хавел

The paper analyzes the place and the social roles allotted to intellectuals in post-totalitarian societies, with a special focus on the Czech situation. From the sources relevant to the topic, the choice here falls on Václav Havel’s public speeches since they offer particularly rich study material. Attention is paid to the political, social, and cultural contexts that have served as a stimulus for each of the analyzed texts, as well as the intention, implicit in them, to model the environment in which they are to function. The paper also touches upon the themes of historical and cultural memory, personal choice, the intellectuals’ resignation, and the sense of cultural isolationism, among others.