The City of Truth

In this interlude between submission of our first drafts and their return, I gave myself a few days to withdraw from the city of Havel. Those five days felt like a kind gift to myself, but that did nothing to ease the sting of reviewing my draft anew this morning. The areas of anticipated concern need just as much attention as expected. In the first five pages there are roughly four sentences which are fine in their current state, so I will be restructuring and rewriting a few dozen others.

Each area in need of revision and correction makes me anticipate the return of my draft a bit less; it may be a bruising report. One important need is more balance in the content. This draft contains roughly 4 pages on Czechoslovak and Czech lustration, 2.5 on the Velvet Divorce, and 1.5 on the 1993 law regarding nationality and citizenship. Finding areas of lustrace to compress is fairly straightforward, but developing the other areas will take some time. Despite the date on the calendar, in the midst of waiting for the paper to come back I feel like the recollection of Tim Garton Ash about the Prague revolutionaries in November 1989 – “time is what [I do] not have (1).”

Perhaps identifying these issues early will make the task easier, and it will be heartening if the returning feedback does not hit me with another wall of problems to fall on top of those loose bricks that I have identified as needing repair. Today is Maundy Thursday, and tomorrow is Good Friday – I can be hopeful that the worst will be over soon. Whatever comes in the comments, my plan is to bring this paper (back) to life next week.

(1) The Magic Lantern,1993, p. 114.