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This study focuses on describing the samizdat situation in the Tábor region while attempting to portray some of the sociocultural aspects of independent publishing activity on the "periphery". Local examples of these phenomena (with such series as JITROcel, Anýz, Jiří Novotný and friends' workshops, magazines such as Studánka, Akát and Obálka, as well as Jiřina Zemanová's Prostor) are used to reveal the importance of the subculture (in this case the "tramping" or backpacking subculture) as a medium for alternative culture and the social networks and links which create these communities and which influence both distribution and reception among readers. Other characteristics of samizdat in the regions included its apolitical nature and the interconnections with the Prague samizdat centre. In addition to samizdat activity, the backpacking community in the Tábor region also arranged amateur music shows and independent exhibitions in unofficial premises such as private homes and chalets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a recapitulation of the wartime and immediate postwar activities of poet and artist Otta Mizera, this heuristically-based article focuses on the final years of his life (1948-1952), which he spent in Paris. The main aim is to show that in spite of the very limited extent of the available sources it is relatively easy to demolish the romantic myth associated with Mizera during this period. The documentary evidence is derived primarily from the ParalUle 50 review -- the history of which is briefly presented in the text -- where one can find both the author's article on Czech and Slovak art and reports documenting Mizera's artistic activity in Paris. With reference to the obituary in the émigré journal Tribuna, the date and location of Mizera's voluntary death is clarified here for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]