A successful dramatist, poet and prose writer . After 1968, he was not allowed to publish in this country, and has lived in Austria since 1978.
He is the author of many successful world-renowned plays, such as Taková láska (Such a Love, 1957), Atest (Testimonial, Vienna, 1979), Pat aneb Hra králů (Stalemate or the Game of Kings, exile 1978), Ecce Constantia (1990), and has published novels: Z deníku kontrarevolucionáře (From the Diary of a Counterrevolutionary, 1968, banned at home, published in German, English, French, Dutch and Finnish) depicts his experiences at the time of the Prague Spring. He recounts the events surrounding Charter 77 in his memoir Kde je zakopán pes (Where the Dog is Buried, exile,1987).