Product Description

story anthology from Prague, tr various from Czech

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115793 in Books
• Published on: 1994-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781883513016
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Amazon.com Review
The city of Prague has inspired a lot of fine literature, and Paul Wilson has done the English-speaking world a vast favor by compiling this anthology of 23 Prague stories. There are classics by the likes of Franz Kafka, Jan Neruda, and Ivan Klima, and lesser-known works making their English-translation debuts. There are autobiographical pieces, fiction, legend, stories from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, tales from the Soviet regime, and contemporary pieces from the Czech Republic. Ivan Klima's epilogue is titled "The Spirit of Prague," and after reviewing Prague's history--cultural and political--he concludes that paradox is at Prague's heart, and irony and ridicule are its primary tools. Both devices are employed deftly throughout Wilson's anthology, providing clever, lyrical, and moving snippets of Prague's complex reality.

From Publishers Weekly
Novelist Ivan Klima explains in "The Spirit of Prague" that his native city has inspired people's creativity by the blending of three cultures that lived side by side for decades, even centuries: Czech, German and Jewish. It is also a city in which "the best people in the country were often imprisoned, tortured or executed." Czech writers deal with such injustices with a subversive sense of humor. It shines in Bohumil Hrabal's description of "The Hotel Pariz," Josef Skvorecky's rendition of President Clinton's sax playing at the Reduta jazz club, Egon Erwin Kisch's "The Case of the Washerwoman," and Jaroslav Hasek's sendup of The Society of Teetotalers. To see human comedy in the midst of great suffering allowed the spirit of Prague to prevail, and that is the genius of the authors presented here. These 24 stories, arranged by the areas of the city they illuminate, are a literary banquet for readers who already know and love "the city of a hundred spires." As such, they are designed, according to editor Wilson, to reveal "a deeper truth about the psyche of the people of Prague than perhaps direct description could." Also included are biographies of contributors and translators and a historical chronology of Prague.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This book is a compilation of short stories set in or around the city of Prague. As readers wanders through the imaginations of the authors, who include Franz Kafka, Josef Skvorecky, Bohumil Hrabal, Jaroslav Hasek, Karel Capek, and Daniela Hodrova, they will find themselves assuming an understanding of this magnificent city's essense and history. The stories, myths, legends, and vignettes explore the city's streets, palaces, cathedrals, restaurants, and beer halls; the ambience and soul of Prague is revealed. This work is not a travel guide but a collection of literary pieces set in a mysterious city over the past century. It would be great fun to read before traveling to Prague or while there, but the short stories stand on their as individual works of art. For comprehensive travel and literature collections.
Melinda Stivers Leach, Precision Editorial Srvcs., Wondervu, Col.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Take This Book With You!
As we prepared for our trip to Prague, I ordered this book from Amazon.com but didn't get a chance to read until we actually got there. What a treasure! Each piece made some landmark or moment of history come more vividly alive than any of the standard guidebooks could possibly provide. The division of the book into corresponding areas of the city was a great idea.I always look to literature to gain insight into travel destinations. No single book has ever done a better job than this one.

Excellent
Excellent collection of pieces from obscure writers and celebrated Czech authors. The book is divided into sections for each part of the city (Old Town, Mala Strana, etc.). I've lived in Prague before and it was so much fun following each author around the city again. I recommend this book for anyone enchanted by the idea of Prague or for those who miss it and want to spend some time there with a bunch of amazing tour guides.