The diary of Miroslav Červenka (1932-2005), literary scholar, editor, poet, translator and university lecturer, from 1985-1989.
Milan Jankovič writes on the bookmark:
In 1985-1989, Miroslav Červenka kept a kind of "spiritual diary" in which he coped with events coming from outside and with the events of his own personal maturation. The diary was a strange blend of a keen interest in the questions of poetry and art in general, poeological and versological erudition, and a determined civic attitude that did not admit any compromise with the ruling power. All this and much more, annotated with suggestions from the broad field of culture, philosophy, religion, history and the present, and of course also with not inconsiderable vivid and accurate impressions of nature, all this was blended in Červenka's Record with unusual immediacy. (...)
The recordings from the late 1980s take on a dramatic quality. To "care for the soul" was added the need to act. Many activities, unofficial of course, were launched, lectures, discussions at clubs held in the flats, evening university for those who would have been denied it under the circumstances.
Of all this, and of the behaviour of the people in those troubled times, of thinking and acting both brave and low, Cervenka's Recorder has left a stern but fair testimony. The events of the autumn of 1989 mark the end of Červenka's record.
Czech edition