The Spirit of Prague

In this collection of political and personal essays, the novelist Ivan Klima charts five decades in the history of Czechoslovakia -- from the Nazi occupation to the Velvet Revolution. Klima invokes the spirit of the city that shaped him: ironical, cultured, accustomed to adversity but full of hope. Other essays deal with his childhood experiences in a concentration camp; an interview by Philip Roth and a study of Kafka are also included.