# Mira Liehm

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{{Short description|Czech film historian and critic (1929–2019)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Mira Liehm
| birth_name = Drahomíra Novotná
| other_names = Drahomíra Liehmová, Drahomíra Olivová, Drahomíra Sisová
| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|12|5|df=y}}
| birth_place = [Prague](/source/Prague), [Czechoslovakia](/source/First_Czechoslovak_Republic)
| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|10|2|1929|12|5|df=y}}
| occupation = {{flatlist|
* Film historian
* film critic
}}
| spouse = [Antonín J. Liehm](/source/Anton%C3%ADn_J._Liehm)
| awards = [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) (1972)
| alma_mater = [Charles University](/source/Charles_University)
| workplaces = [The New School for Social Research](/source/The_New_School_for_Social_Research)
}}
'''Drahomíra N. Liehm-Novotná'''{{efn|She originally published as Drahomíra Novotná and Drahomíra Olivová during her journalism career, before publishing as Mira Liehm for her academic books in exile.<ref name="scl" />}}<ref name="GF" /> (5 December 1929 – 2 October 2019) was a [Czech](/source/Czechs) film historian and critic. A 1972 [Guggenheim Fellow](/source/Guggenheim_Fellow), she wrote several books, including ''The Most Important Art'' (1977) and ''Passion and Defiance'' (1984), the former of which she co-authored with [Antonín J. Liehm](/source/Anton%C3%ADn_J._Liehm).

==Biography==
She was born Drahomíra Novotná on 5 December 1929 in [Prague](/source/Prague), [Czechoslovakia](/source/First_Czechoslovak_Republic).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Novotná, Drahomíra|url=https://search.mlp.cz/cz/osoby/novotna-drahomira/1147089/|publisher=[Municipal Library of Prague](/source/Municipal_Library_of_Prague)|language=cs|access-date=2025-08-14}}</ref> She was married to writer [Antonín J. Liehm](/source/Anton%C3%ADn_J._Liehm).<ref name="scl">{{Cite web |title=Antonín Jaroslav LIEHM |url=https://slovnikceskeliteratury.cz/showContent.jsp?docId=48 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250120193740/https://slovnikceskeliteratury.cz/showContent.jsp?docId=48 |archive-date=20 January 2025 |access-date=2025-08-12 |website=Slovník české literatury |language=cs |url-status=live }}</ref> She was educated at [Charles University](/source/Charles_University), where she obtained her doctorate degree in literary studies in 1953.<ref name="GF" /><ref name="csds">{{Cite web |title=Zemřela Drahomíra Liehmová |url=http://csds.cz/en/news/5429-DS.html?language=2 |access-date=2025-08-12 |website=ČSDS |language=cs |archive-date=18 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250318165610/http://www.csds.cz/en/news/5429-DS.html?language=2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After briefly spending time working in foreign relations for {{ill|Czechoslovak Filmexport|cs|Filmexport}}, she started working as an editor for media outlets and journals, with one of her early roles being as editor-in-chief for Československý film.<ref name="csds" /><ref name="GF" /> She was deputy editor-in-chief for {{ill|Film a doba|cs}},<ref name="Štolba" /> as well as editor for both ''Divadelní a filmové noviny'' and the ''Journal of Cinema and Television'' in Prague.<ref name="GF" /><ref name="csds" /> She also worked for ''Filmové a televizní noviny''.<ref name="Štolba" />

She would publish reviews and critical studies in some of the periodicals she worked with.<ref name="csds" /> She specialized in Italian and Eastern European film,<ref name="csds" /> with her works including ''Il cinema nell'Europa dell'Est 1960–1977'' (1977) and ''Passion and Defiance'' (1984).<ref name="scl" /><ref name="GF" /><ref name="Štolba" /> In 1972,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Drahomíra N. Liehm-Novotná |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/drahomira-n-liehm-novotna |access-date=2025-08-12 |website=Guggenheim Fellowships |archive-date=26 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241126203919/https://www.gf.org/fellows/drahomira-n-liehm-novotna/ |url-status=live }}</ref> she and her husband were awarded a joint [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) for a history of cinema in Eastern Europe.<ref name="GF">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LkA8AQAAIAAJ |title=Reports of the President and the Treasurer |date=1969 |publisher=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |pages=237}}</ref> In 1977, she and her husband co-authored ''The Most Important Art''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Most Important Art by Mira Liehm, Antonin Liehm – Paper |url=https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-most-important-art/paper |access-date=2025-08-13 |website=University of California Press |archive-date=17 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250617203333/https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-most-important-art/paper |url-status=live }}</ref>

She was among several signatories to "[The Two Thousand Words](/source/The_Two_Thousand_Words)" in 1968.<ref name="csds" /> Following this, she fled the country alongside her husband, eventually settling in the United States.<ref name="csds" /><ref name="scl" /> She worked at [The New School for Social Research](/source/The_New_School_for_Social_Research) as a lecturer (1971–1972).<ref name="GF" /> In 1982, she and her husband moved to France, where she was a contributor to ''[Lettre International](/source/Lettre_International)'' (which her husband ran).<ref name="csds" /> She was part of the selection committee of the [International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg](/source/International_Filmfestival_Mannheim-Heidelberg).<ref name="csds" />

In 2013, she and her husband moved back to Prague.<ref name="csds" /> She died on 2 October 2019, at the age of 90.<ref name="Štolba">{{Cite news |last=Štolba |first=Jan |date=2019-10-04 |title=Zemřela publicistka a filmová kritička Drahomíra Liehmová |url=https://www.literarky.cz/kultura/361-zemrela-publicistka-a-filmova-kriticka-drahomira-liehmova |access-date=2025-08-12 |language=cs |archive-date=24 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250624043229/https://literarky.cz/kultura/361-zemrela-publicistka-a-filmova-kriticka-drahomira-liehmova |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*''[The Most Important Art](/source/The_Most_Important_Art)'' (1977, with [Antonín J. Liehm](/source/Anton%C3%ADn_J._Liehm))<ref name="z272">{{cite book | last1=Liehm | first1=Mira | last2=Liehm | first2=Antonin | title=The Most Important Art | date=8 January 2021 | isbn=978-0-520-31616-4 | page=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bickley |first=Daniel |date=1981 |title=Review of The Most Important Art: Eastern European Film After 1945 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41692493 |journal=Cinéaste |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=43–44 |jstor=41692493 |issn=0009-7004}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Archie |date=1979 |title=Review of The Most Important Art: Eastern European Film after 1945 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2617188 |journal=International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944–) |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=146–147 |doi=10.2307/2617188 |jstor=2617188 |issn=0020-5850}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Filipowicz-Findlay |first=Halina |date=1978 |title=Review of The Most Important Art: Eastern European Film after 1945 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/305694 |journal=The Slavic and East European Journal |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=103–104 |doi=10.2307/305694 |jstor=305694 |issn=0037-6752|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frost |first=Edgar L. |date=1979 |title=The Most Important Art: East European Film After 1945 |journal=Slavic Review |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=360–361 |doi=10.2307/2497154 |jstor=2497154 |issn=0037-6779}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kiziria-Smith |first=Dodona |date=1977-12-01 |title=mira liehm and antonín j. liehm. The Most Important Art: East European Film after 1945 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=82 |issue=5 |pages=1290 |doi=10.1086/ahr/82.5.1290 |issn=0002-8762}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Koszarski |first=Richard |date=1977 |title=Review of The Most Important Art: Eastern European Film After 1945 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25777536 |journal=The Polish Review |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=106–107 |jstor=25777536 |issn=0032-2970}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Uhde |first=Jan |date=1978 |title=LIEHM, M. and A.J., The Most Important Art (Book Review) |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/1791f3c30d1f25e931f2a599232f5888/1 |journal=Canadian Slavonic Papers |volume=20 |issue=4 |page=597}}</ref>
*''[Passion and Defiance](/source/Passion_and_Defiance)'' (1984)<ref name="e240">{{cite book | last=Liehm | first=Mira | title=Passion and Defiance | publisher=Univ of California Press | publication-place=Berkeley | date=1984 | isbn=978-0-520-05744-9 | page=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Esposito |first=Joan |date=1985 |title=Passion and Defiance: Film in Italy from 1942 to the Present (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/article/428564 |journal=Minnesota Review |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=130–133 |issn=2157-4189}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Murray |first=William |date=1984-09-16 |title=FROM FASCISM TO FELLINI (Published 1984) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/16/books/from-fascism-to-fellini.html |access-date=2025-08-12 |work=New York Times}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liehm, Mira}}
Category:1929 births
Category:2019 deaths
Category:Czech film historians
Category:Czechoslovak historians
Category:Czech women historians
Category:Czechoslovak women historians
Category:Czechoslovak critics
Category:Czech film critics
Category:Women film critics
Category:Writers from Prague
Category:Czechoslovak exiles
Category:Charles University alumni
Category:The New School faculty
Category:Czechoslovak expatriates in the United States
Category:Czechoslovak expatriates in France
Category:Historians of Italy
Category:Historians of Eastern Europe

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mira Liehm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira_Liehm) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira_Liehm?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.