Description
Book SynopsisPresents a comprehensive history of the Czech people that is a remarkably original history of modern Europe. This book describes how Bohemia's ambiguities and contradictions are those of Europe itself, and it considers the ironies of viewing Europe, the West, and modernity from the vantage point of a country that has been too often ignored.
Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1998 "[Derek Sayer's The Coasts of Bohemia] is an ambitious, elegantly written, and sympathetic account of the art, the literature and the politics of the Czech people... Sayer saunters gracefully and with sure footing back and forth across centuries of Czech religion, mythology, and history, displaying enthusiasm and engagement but immune to the usual self-serving national illusions... His book is a delight."--Tony Judt, The New Republic "A rich and intricate story... Excellent ... the most stimulating introduction to [its] subject available in English, or ... any other language."--R.J.W. Evans, New York Review of Books "Sayer's penetrating and balanced discussion of Czech political and cultural history should spare us from ever again thinking of the central European place as 'a far away country'."--Stan Persky, Vancouver Sun "A masterful essay on the ironies and tragedies of both the cultural history of the Czechs and Czech culture's history of its own past."--Steven Beller, The Times Literary Supplement
Table of ContentsLIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A NOTE ON CZECH PRONUNCIATION BEARINGS ONE The Company of Our Great Minds A Great Artist and a Great Czech The End of Culture Faithful We Shall Remain TWO Materials of Memory The Crown of Saint Wenceslas Against All Three Hundred Years We Suffered THREE Rebirth The Count's National Theater Enlightenment Home Cooking FOUR Mirrors of Identity A Burghers' Banquet The Affordable National Library Little Golden Chapel on the Vltava A Cathedral and a Fortress A Procession of Servant Girls Palacky's Looking-Glass A Discovery in Dvur Kralove Memories of Ivancice FIVE Modernisms and Modernities Futurist Manifestos Guten Tag und auf Wiedersehen The Completion of Saint Vitus's New Hussite Armies The International Style Emily Comes in a Dream SIX Eternal Returns The Art of Remaining Standing Grave Far Away Bila hora Redressed--Again SEVEN Future Perfect Neither the Swan nor the Moon Prayer for Marta The Lineup for Meat In the Land Where Tomorrow Already Means Yesterday Father Ales and Old Mr. Jirasek Children's Eyes and Fiery Tongues Love Is at Work It Is Tireless NOTES SOURCES INDEX
