Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History

Setting out to recover the roots of modernity in the boulevards, interiors, and arcades of the "city of light," Walter Benjamin dubbed Paris "the capital of the nineteenth century." In this eagerly anticipated sequel to his acclaimed Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History, Derek Sayer argues that Prague could well be seen as the capital of the much darker twentieth century. Ranging across twentieth-century Prague's astonishingly vibrant and always surprising human landscape, this richly illustrated cultural history describes how the city has experienced (and suffered) more ways of being modern than perhaps any other metropolis.

Located at the crossroads of struggles between democratic, communist, and fascist visions of the modern world, twentieth-century Prague witnessed revolutions and invasions, national liberation and ethnic cleansing, the Holocaust, show trials, and snuffed-out dreams of "socialism with a human face." Yet between the wars, when Prague was the capital of Europe's most easterly parliamentary democracy, it was also a hotbed of artistic and architectural modernism, and a center of surrealism second only to Paris.

Focusing on these years, Sayer explores Prague's spectacular modern buildings, monuments, paintings, books, films, operas, exhibitions, and much more. A place where the utopian fantasies of the century repeatedly unraveled, Prague was tailor-made for surrealist André Breton's "black humor," and Sayer discusses the way the city produced unrivaled connoisseurs of grim comedy, from Franz Kafka and Jaroslav Hasek to Milan Kundera and Václav Havel. A masterful and unforgettable account of a city where an idling flaneur could just as easily be a secret policeman, this book vividly shows why Prague can teach us so much about the twentieth century and what made us who we are.

"A triumph! Sayer's indispensable work is at once magisterial and puckish, authoritative and subversive, intellectually dense and brilliantly accessible."--Michael Beckerman, New York University

"This is a fascinating and brilliantly written narrative that combines elements of literary guide, biography, cultural history, and essay. Writing with warm engagement, and drawing on his detailed knowledge of Czech literature, art, architecture, music, and other fields, Derek Sayer provides a rich picture of a dynamic cultural landscape."--Jindrich Toman, University of Michigan

Derek Sayer is Professor of Cultural History at Lancaster University and a former Canada Research Chair at the University of Alberta. His previous books include "The Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History" (Princeton) and "Capitalism and Modernity". He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

List of Illustrations xi

Acknowledgments xv

Translation and Pronunciation xix

Introduction 1

• 1 The Starry Castle Opens 13

• The Surrealist Situation of the Object 13

• A Choice of Abdications 22

2 Zone 33

• Le passant de Prague 33

• This Little Mother Has Claws 44

• The Time of Ardent Reason 52

• The Hangman and the Poet 63

• Tongues Come to Life 69

3 Metamorphoses 79

• The Origin of Robots 79

• A Beautiful Garden Next Door to History 90

• Suicide Lane 99

• Franz Kafka's Dream 114

• Do You Speak German? Are You a Jew? 122

• Fantasy Land. Entry 1 Crown 130

• The Precious Legacy 137

4 Modernism in the Plural 144

• Alfons Mucha, Steel and Concrete 144

• The Ghosts of Futures Past 156

• From the Window of the Grand Caf? Orient 170

• Granny's Valley 183

• The Electric Century 197

• All the Beauties of the World 210

5 Body Politic 221

• The Silent Woman 221

• The Poetry of Future Memories 231

• Renaissance Ballet 242

• Beautiful Ideas That Kill 251

• Sexual Nocturne 261

• Cut with a Kitchen Knife 270

• A War Economy, Words of Command, and Gas 280

6 On the Edge of an Abyss 288

• The Beautiful Gardener 288

• The Bride Stripped Bare 298

• Gulping for Air and Violence 304

• Orders of Things 312

• L'origine du monde 324

• Dreams of Venus 331

• A Girl with a Baton 344

7 Love's Boat Shattered against Everyday Life 356

• A National Tragedy with Pretty Legs 356

• The Poet Assassinated 364

• A Wall as Thick as Eternity 374

• Didier Desroches 387

• Am I Not Right, Jan Hus? 399

• Messalina's Shoulder in the Gaslight 409

• That Familiar White Darkness 419

8 The Gold of Time 426

• The Necromancer's Junk Room 426

• The Prague-Paris Telephone 433

• The Dancing House 439

Notes 445

Bibliography 529

Index 561