The Prague Orgy
|
List Price:
$10.95
Czech Hotels Travel Price:
$9.31
Your Savings: $ 1.64 ( 15% )
Subject To Change Without Notice
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Vintage
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780679749035
ISBN: 0679749039
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 96
Publication Date: 1995-01-30
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: 1996-01-30
Studio: Vintage
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
In quest of the unpublished manuscript of a martyred Yiddish writer, the American novelist Nathan Zuckerman travels to Soviet-occupied Prague in the mid-1970s. There, in a nation straightjacketed by totalitarian Communism, he discovers a literary predicament, marked by institutionalized oppression, that is rather different from his own. He also discovers, among the oppressed writers with whom he quickly becomes embroiled in a series of bizarre and poignant adventures, an appealingly perverse kind of heroism.
The Prague Orgy, consisting of entries from protagonist Nathan Zuckerman's notebooks recording his sojourn among these outcast artists, completes the trilogy and epilogue Zuckerman bound. It provides a startling ending to Roth's intricately designed magnum opus on the unforeseen consequences of art.
This Vintage edition is the first paperback publication of the epilogue.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dialogue alone is worth the price
Comment: Look, it's Roth ... the dialogue alone is worth the cost. Fun stuff, as always. The only drawback is you'll only wish it were a much longer rift.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Roth's 'Zuckerman Trilogy:' Epilogue.
Comment: The Prague Orgy (1984) is the epilogue to Philip Roth's (1933) Zuckerman trilogy: The Ghost Writer (1979), Zuckerman Unbound (1981), and The Anatomy Lesson (1983). It is the fourth of nine novels to enlist Zuckerman as Roth's fictional alter ego. He reappears in Roth's later novels: The Counterlife (1986), American Pastoral (1997), I Married a Communist (1998), The Human Stain: A Novel (2000), and Exit Ghost (2007).The Ghost Writer (1979), Zuckerman Unbound (1981), and The Anatomy Lesson (1983).
Written in the form of behinf-the-Iron-Curtain journal entries, The Prague Orgy follows Zuckerman's journey to Soviet-occupied Prague in the 1970s in search of an unpublished manuscript written by a Yiddish martyr (Zdenek Sisovsky). The novella chronicles the struggle of demoralized artists under totalitarian Communism, a society in which artistic expression and intellectual freedom are always at odds with institutionalized oppression.
The Prague Orgy is not a good starting point for readers new to Roth, but should be considered required reading in Roth's Zuckerman series.
G. Merritt
Customer Rating:
Summary: a concise satyrical report from Prague of the 1970s, as it could be seen by an American writer
Comment: The small novel, or rather novella, The Prague Orgy" can be treated as an appendix to the trilogy about the Jewish-American writer Nathan Zuckerman. This slim volume is the example of the real wave of the novels appearing in the 1980s by American authors, who described the Eastern European countries under the communist regime, most often based on the personal experience from their travels.
Nathan Zuckerman, already a renowned writer, finds himself in Prague under Soviet occupation in the mid-1970s. He has a mission to recovers the manuscripts of the short stories written by the father of a Czech emigre writer.
The book is given as excerpts from Nathan's diary, starting with the meeting with the Czech writer, Zdenek Sisovsky, and his lover, a tragic actress Eva Kalinova, in New York, and continuing with the relation of his trip to Prague. The reader is presented with an amazing array of intellectuals, demoralized by the system. The enormous number of delightfully colorful characters and their stories, skilfully woven into the concise text is perhaps the major achievement of The Prague Orgy", which gives is a stand on its own, athough it has more of the gems to be uncovered by an attentive reader. There are numerous literary allusions, jokes and irony - the whole book is more like a pastiche in Roth's unforgettable style. I can imagine that when the book appeared, it was one of the shocking reports from behind the Iron Curtain, which, additionally, had to be taken with a grain of salt (I wonder what were Roth's real impressions...). Nowadays it still reads well.
Although The Prague Orgy" is a complete work in itself, it is recommended to know other novels about Nathan Zuckerman before reading it, to fully understand the character of Zuckerman and his attitude.
Customer Rating:
Summary: For Devoted Fans....
Comment: Many of the reviews of this piece are especially harsh. This shouldn't be considered a stand-alone novel. (It's little more than a short story, really.) It is just another episode in the ongoing saga of Nathan Zuckerman.
This story is taken from the journals of Nathan Zuckerman. He goes to communist Prague in order to retrieve some Yiddish short stories. That's about all there is to it. Contrary to the title, there's not even an orgy involved.
So, for Roth (and Zuckerman) fans - yes, you should read it. Yet, even the most ardent admirer will find Harold Bloom's glowing blurb to be a bit of an overstatement.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Perhaps I'm just a silly fan, but....
Comment: I loved this book. It's about the madness that ensues among artists and the intelligentsia when imprisoned by a totalitarian regime. Some may recognize that same mania occurring during our present administration, as more and more Americans lose their rights - to free speech, abortion, etc. Right on, 'Zookermann!' (Hey, sounds like Superman!)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Czech Trips Books
Czech Trips DVD
Czech Trips Softwares
Czech Trips Magazines
Czech Posters
Czech Art Prints
Czech Travel 2008 Calendars
2008 Monthly Calendars
Czech Hotels Travel Special Resources
Czech Arts
Czech Entertainment
Czech Government
Czech Business
Czech Culture
Czech Education
Czech Health
Czech Map
Sports & Recreation
Travel & Tourism
Food and Recipes
Czech Festivals
Czech Hotels
Czech Museums
Czech Transportation
Czech Destinations
Prague, Czech
Brno, Czech
Plzen, Czech
Czech Hotels
Prague Hotels
Brno Hotels
Praha Hotels
|
Czech Hotels Travel
Maintained by: Marketer Solutions | Link Building
