- Paperback: 9999 pages
- Publisher: Picador; New Ed edition (13 Jan 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330337793
- ISBN-13: 978-0330337793
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
438,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #62 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Europe > Czech Republic
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Product Description
Product Description
‘a haunting, clotted, mad masterpiece’ John Banville
Book Description
This book attempts to go beyond the tourist cliché of Prague as the ‘golden city’ to bring out all the mystery, ambiguity, gloom, lethargy and hidden fascination of the city on the Vltava. Ripellino slips into the style of melodrama and ghost stories as he writes of the time of Rudolf II, the alchemists, the Jewish Quarter, the Golem, the pubs, the funereal malevolence of its architecture, of Holan and Kafka, of Meyrink and the Czech Dadaists. With this dense cast of characters Ripellino brings out the sorcery of the Bohemian capital in a compelling mix of fact and fiction. This vast fresco of Prague life provides much more than a literary and cultural history of the city; it is both a celebration and a requiem. ‘The city of the Vltava, capital of old Bohemia, is as much a state of mind as a physical location. It was the centre of magic in the Renaissance, the very alembic of Europe, and still retains its reputation for mystery and rank intrigue . . . This is a haunting, clotted, mad masterpiece. It is not an easy read, but it is a rewarding one. As I close the book, the magic city sinks back into its ancient dreaming, and I recall a beautiful line from a poem by Jarolsav Seifert, quoted by Ripellino: “The shadow enters darkness and man enters earth.” ’ John Banville, Observer
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Magic Prague is a difficult book - I've read it three times now and the process went like this: 1. I first read it before I'd ever visited Prague, and found it tedious and generally hard work. 2.
I then read it after about two months in Prague, and it made more sense - its obscurities and the dense style still made it difficult, though. 3. Finally, after a year of living in Prague, I read it again, and the whole thing makes sense. Czech history, and Czech modernism in particular, are very rich subjects. Ripellino isn't attempting an objective, academic analysis - it's clearly a response to August 1968, a quasi-mystical critique of the supposedly rational, scientific
communist ideology then in power (and seemingly eternal too.)
Peter Demetz, author of Prague in Black and Gold, is very critical of Ripellono's subjective approach.
I then read it after about two months in Prague, and it made more sense - its obscurities and the dense style still made it difficult, though. 3. Finally, after a year of living in Prague, I read it again, and the whole thing makes sense. Czech history, and Czech modernism in particular, are very rich subjects. Ripellino isn't attempting an objective, academic analysis - it's clearly a response to August 1968, a quasi-mystical critique of the supposedly rational, scientific
communist ideology then in power (and seemingly eternal too.)
Peter Demetz, author of Prague in Black and Gold, is very critical of Ripellono's subjective approach.
It's an erudite book, of course, but knowing The Trial just isn't enough to enjoy it - Czech literary history (Neruda,
Hasek, Kafka) is important, but much more detailed knowledge
is required - it helps to know the writings of Holan, Teige,
Seifert, Orten, Vancura and others - and to be au fait with
Poetism and Czech surrealism, Werich and Voskovec, the topography and unhappy history of Bohemia from the Battle of White Mountain in 1621. Since then, I've found it an incredibly rich and evocative source of information - you just need to supplement this with diverse reading, looking at Czech art,
getting lost in Prague, and... learning Czech.
Czech modernism, in particular, is as rich and complex as e.g.
German modernism in the 1920s (in a different way, of course.)
As far as I know, there is no guide to this in English, though
Ripellino's book is a good pioneering start. The reason for this, I think, is that the Czech language is quite difficult (seven different inflections depending on the context) - Magic Prague isn't recommended if you're visiting for a couple of weeks over the summer.
Finally, it's best to read the book a little at a time.
8 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having lived in Prague for three years, I wanted to read this book in order to confirm to myself that someone else feels there is something mystic about the city.
Cutting through the gobbledygook, it became clear that this was the case, and I only hope that come the day when it may be possible for me to write down my thoughts on that city, I will do so with more fluidity. I regard myself as well read, but this book was very "wordy" and can only assume something was lost in translation !
However, don't despair. If you know Prague, and the Czech people, this is a great book for sparking off those memories of people and places with whom you came into contact.
11 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this in Prague on a recent visit, and while admiring the author's erudition, I found it a little too rich. He set the mood nicely but there seemed to be too much stuffed into too short a book. At times he seemed to be keener on showing off his vocabulary rather than communicating. I didn't finish it
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