Prague

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

V. Havel's "The Garden Party" Synopsis and Comments - Recommended for Kafka fans! Playwright Havel's masterpiece.

Havel's "Garden Party" is in the genre known as the absurdist drama.
It is not a straightforward comedy play, but rather surrealistic in any case.
The audience is made to laugh at the ill-conceived conversations, exchanges, and satire.
Moreover, the absurdity of this work by Havel is like a strange development, reminiscent of Kafka.
It is a wonderful example of Prague's high level of culture.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

V. Havel, "Prague Prison Chronicles - Letters to My Wife Olga" - A collection of letters from the prison of the future Czech President under Soviet repression.

In this collection of letters, you can read a variety of correspondence, including private correspondence with his wife, scenes of prison life, Havel's observations, musings, and essay-style writing.

I read this book imagining him writing this letter silently at his desk during his difficult prison life. I cannot get over the human magnitude of Havel's desperate resistance during the era of Soviet repression.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Visit "Reduta Jazz Club" - Prague's recommended long-established jazz club! A legendary club that continued to promote Czech culture even during the Soviet repression era

Reduta Jazz Club I visited in Prague in 2019

I visited here because I saw on the Internet that this was a well-established and highly recommended jazz club. I was really surprised to learn that the Reduta had played a tremendous role in the history of the Czech Republic.

This article will introduce you to such a repo of Reduta.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Havel's Autobiography: Half Life of Resistance - From Playwright to Czech President From Prague Spring to Velvet Revolution

I knew from other books how difficult Havel's situation was, but reading this autobiography makes the severity of the situation even more apparent.

Amidst the suppression of speech by the Soviet Union, Havel's continued belief in the power of culture and the power of words as a playwright is astonishing in its spiritual power.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Summary and Comments on V. Havel's "The Power of the Powerless" - A Must-Read Essay by the President of the Czech Republic - We are unknowingly complicit in totalitarianism.

This book is one of the most shocking. It was one of the most impactful books I have read this year. I was originally interested in the Prague Spring, but this book made me rethink what was happening in Prague at that time and how they fought their way to the collapse of the Soviet bloc and won their freedom.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Kazuya Harue's "Spring in Prague" Synopsis and Comments - Read this and you'll love Prague!

'And yet it is beautiful. Why is Prague so beautiful!" In this book, you can experience the world of "Why is Prague so beautiful? This book is guaranteed to make you fall in love with Prague. If you love Prague, you will love Prague even more. Please read this book!

I also think it is a very good piece of work that gives us an insight into the situation in Prague at the time.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" Synopsis and Comments - To understand the atmosphere of communist rule after the Prague Spring.

I decided to read this work in order to get a feel for the atmosphere of Prague after the "Prague Spring". This work gives a realistic picture of the hardships that Prague's intellectuals had to endure. The author's analysis of the Soviet domination of the city, especially from the middle of the novel, is also presented in the novel. This is quite powerful and breathtaking.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Joseph Kudelka, The Prague Invasion 1968 - A masterpiece of photography! How did the citizens of Prague face the tanks?

This book is a collection of photographs by photographer Joseph Kudelka documenting the Soviet invasion of Prague.
Large numbers of tanks and fully armed soldiers stormed the beautiful city of Prague and took control of the city by force.
This brought the Prague Spring, which sought freedom from oppression, to a complete end.
This film is a realistic experience of the tense situation in Prague.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Ten Years of Solidarity: Poland, Crushed Reforms, and Czechoslovakia" - Recommended for understanding the flow of the Prague Spring.

This book is dedicated to the situation in Poland at the end of the Cold War and the Prague Spring, with just half of each discussed in the 270 pages of the book. There are surprisingly few books that provide more than 100 pages of commentary on the Prague Spring alone, so we were very grateful for this substantial commentary.

Learning from the History, Thought and Literature of the Cold War World

V. Seveschen, "The Eastern European Revolution 1989: The Collapse of the Soviet Empire" - A great book to learn about the history of the collapse of the communist bloc!

Seveschen's works are just easy to read, and they are all great books that lead us to interesting yet deep insights.

This book looks at society at the end of the Cold War from a large global perspective. It is also a masterful book that analyzes the process of its collapse in chronological order and also highlights the interrelationships among the different countries. This is an excellent work. A gem that you will want to read over and over again!