KAREL ČAPEK (1890-1938): A WRITER FOR OUR TIMES1JAN ČULÍKAbstract Karel Čapek is regarded by many literary historians as one of the most important authors of the interwar Czechoslovak Republic. Despite this designation, he con-tinues to be controversial, particularly in the Anglophone world, as some critics believe that Čapek never actually comprehended the character of evil. On the occa-sion of the 120th anniversary of Čapek’s birth, this article re-examines some of the most important themes of Čapek’s writing from the vantage point of current events and well-known literary scholars. As one of the first European authors to experiment with multi-perspective approaches, Čapek echoes Lacan in some of his early work, while anticipating existentialism and postmodernism. These approaches will be investigated alongside Čapek’s own analyses of society and politics, particularly topical today. Keywords: Czech Literature; Karel Čapek; Jacques Lacan

The developments in the Czech economy since the fall of communism in 1989. Recorded for Humbox at Glasgow University in February 2010.

https://youtu.be/VDE1xHpKNKU An informative video on Czech history, recorded at the University of Glasgow for Humbox, a British server of academic teaching resources. The interviewer is Jamie Smith. Jan Čulík is Senior Lecturer in Czech Studies at the University of Glasgow. Filmed, directed and produced by Dominika Švecová.

An informative video about the most important Czech 20th century Czech autors. An interview with Jan Čulík, Senior Lecturer in Czech Studies at the University of Glasgow. The interviewer is Michal Mráz. The video was made in March 2010 for Humbox, a British database of academic teaching resources.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JTtSvFQq4w Jan Culik interviews film historian Peter Hames, the author of a number of monographs and articles about Czechoslovak and Czech cinema. They speak about the importance of the 1960 Czech New Wave and its impact on British film makers. After a 90-second introduction in Czech, the fifteen minute interview is conducted in English, with Czech subtitles. The interview was broadcast on the Czech cable TV station Regionalnitelevize.cz from 13th July 2018.

Three TV interviews with former Czech dissident and first Prime Minister of post-communist Czechoslovakia Petr Pithart on Czechoslovak History since the Prague Spring of 1968 Culik, J. and Pithart, P. (2019) Britské listy Interview 234. Petr Pithart: The decades after the 1968 Soviet invasion. It was an era of timelessness ttps://youtu.be/D6WSHQ1Wjwo (This interview is in Czech with English subtitles.) On the occasion of the thirty years' anniversary of the fall of communism, we broadcast three exclusive interviews with Petr Pithart, the first Prime Minister of the post-communist Czech Republic and a close collaborator of Czechoslovak President Václav Havel. In this, third, interview, Petr Pithart talks about the drastic impact of the so called "normalisation period" - the two post-invasion decades from 1969 to 1989. At the beginning of this period, all adult citizens of Czechoslovakia were subjected to political interviews during which they were forced to approve of the invasion and renounce all their previous liberal or democratic statements, otherwise they lost their jobs. These interviews were extremely humiliating. The Czechoslovaks retreated into the privacy of their families and homes and started distrusting their fellow citizens. The deep trauma of normalisation has not been exorcised to this very day and it still deeply influences life in contemporary Czech Republic, argues Pithart. The interview was broadcast by the Czech cable TV station Regionalnitelevize.cz from Friday 23rd August, 2019. Culik, J. and Pithart, P. (2019) Britské listy Interview 233. Petr Pithart: Why were the Prague Spring politcians such cowards? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRm6tYbPFg4 (This interview is in Czech with English subtitles) On the occasion of the thirty years' anniversary of the fall of communism, we broadcast three exclusive interviews with Petr Pithart, the first Prime Minister of the post-communist Czech Republic and a close collaborator of Czechoslovak President Václav Havel. In this, second, interview, Petr Pithart is - rightly - highly critical of the cowardice of Alexander Dubček and the other leaders of the Czechoslovak CP during and after the 1968 Prague Spring. Pithart testifies to the remarkable perspicacity of Zdeněk Mlynář, the main strategist of the Prague Spring and the author of the 1968 Czechoslovak CP Action Programme. Within 20 minutes of Dubček being appointed leader of the CzCP on 5th January 1968, Mlynář predicted the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Fifty years ago this month, in August 1969, Dubček brutally betrayed Czechoslovak citizens who protested against the Soviet invasion, chanting his name. He sent the army and the police to suppress them. The interview is being broadcast by the Czech cable TV station Regionalnitelevize.cz from Friday 16th August, 2019. Čulík, J. and Pithart, P. (2019) Britské listy interview 232. Petr Pithart:1968 was the only time when I believed that the world might be better . https://youtu.be/eP7b0Jhzlnk (This interview is in Czech with English subtitles.) On the occasion of the thirty years of the fall of communism, we have broadcast three exclusive interviews with Petr Pithart, former Czech Prime Minister and close collaborator of the first Czech President Václav Havel. In this first interview Jan Čulík talks to Petr Pithart about his experiences of the Prague Spring of 1968. The interview was broadcast by the Czech cable TV station Regionalni televize from 9th August, 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgFwq6qt6t4 Jan Culik talks to Sir John Tusa, a well-known British TV journalist and former Chief Executive of the BBC World Service about the precarious situation in which journalists find themselves in today's quickly destabilising world. The interview was filmed at the 2018 Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival on the margin of a public debate about the contemporary role of journalists, in which both Sir John Tusa and Jan Culik took part. The interview is in English, subtitled in Czech. It was broadcast by the Czech cable TV station Regionalnitelevize.cz from Friday 2nd November, 2018.