Since the collapse of Communism and the Velvet Revolution of 1989 a vibrant cultural scene and well-funded arts programme has emerged in the Czech Republic, with Prague at its heart. In 2014 the city was awarded the ninth Unesco City of Literature for its outstanding literary heritage, a dynamic contemporary scene and actively growing investment and international collaboration. This is evident in its roots with the works of Kafka, and his friend and biographer Max Bod; Holocaust survivor and Pulitzer Prize nominee Arnost Lustig; Václav Havel, the playwright, author and president of post-revolution Czechoslovakia and modern Czech writers such as former dissident Jáchym Topol. The Czech Republic has the densest network of libraries in the world at around 6,000 and Prague has one of the highest concentrations of bookshops in Europe, plus several high profile literary festivals.
There is a long and proud tradition of Czech cinema in a wide genre including drama, comedy and animation. Early cinema flourished after World War I and during the 1920s and 1930s popular Czech films began reaching audiences abroad. The Czech new wave or golden age of cinema evolved from the artistic movement of the 1930s and is centred on the years 1963–1968 when anti-Communist emotions were riding high. Post-Communism brought a falling off in funding and an increase in foreign film production within the country, attracted by low costs and beautiful locations. However in the 1990s a new generation of Czech film makers came to the fore, winning awards and Oscar nominations. With the support of FAMU (Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts) it is hoped that Czech cinema will continue to flourish.
Franz Kafka commemorative plaque
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Books
Non-Fiction
My Crazy Century by Ivan Klíma. Acclaimed dissident novelist Klíma’s autobiography spans six decades of life in the Czech Republic from boyhood in the Terezin concentration camp, through Communism and eventual liberation and democracy.
Cities of the Imagination – Prague by Richard Burton. A ‘cultural and literary history’ that gets beneath the skin of the city. Burton’s discussions of key figures and events – from Jan Hus, alchemy and the Golem to Kafka, Hašek and the Velvet Revolution – are both insightful and thought-provoking.
Franz Kafka: a Biography by Max Brod. The classic account of Kafka’s life by his lifelong friend and editor.
Magic Prague by Angelo Maria Ripellino. More deftly than any other writer, Ripellino conjures up the esoteric ambience of the city in which strangeness was the norm, from the days of Rabbi Löw and Emperor Rudolf onwards.
We the People by Timothy Garton Ash. Eyewitness account of the thrilling events of late 1989. British journalist and academic Garton Ash was present in the smoke-filled Laterna Magika theatre as students and dissidents prepared the peaceful overthrow of Communism.
Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941–1968 by Heda Margoloius Kovaly. The intimate and poignant memoir of a woman’s life through concentration camps, post-war starvation and her husband’s execution in the Stalin purges.
Fiction
The Good Soldier Švejk and His Fortunes in the World War by Jaroslav Hašek, translated by Cecil Parrott. While some prefer the pre-war, anonymous translation into English of the adventures of Hašek’s iconic anti-hero, this version by a former British ambassador is 100 percent complete, omitting none of the beery conscript’s many expletives and less-than-savoury exploits.
The Golem by Gustav Meyrink. Written in 1913, this book tells of the legend of Rabbi Löw’s clay homunculus.
Prague Tales by Jan Neruda (various editions). Charming short stories from the backstreets of the 19th-century city by the ‘Dickens of Malá Strana’.
The Trial, The Castle, Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka. Kafka’s creation of shadowy worlds in which individuals are helpless in the face of an unfathomable authority was eerily prophetic of the atmosphere of Prague when it was in the grip of the totalitarian rule first of the Nazis, then the Communists. Despite the enthusiasm of today’s tourist industry for this image, the contemporary city seems to have little left of the sinister character so tellingly evoked in Kafka’s novels and short stories.
Toby Jones in ‘Anthropoid’
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Film
Films have been made at the Barrandov Studios in southern Prague since 1932, and in their first decade up to 80 films a year were made. During World War II, the studios were confiscated by the Nazis, who exploited the facilities to make propaganda films. After the war, the studios were nationalised and remained under state ownership until the 1990s. In their desire for cultural and expressive freedom directors such as Jan Němec, Miloš Forman, Klos and Ján Kadár and Jiří Menzel, achieved international acclaim. Films such as Closely Watched Trains (Jiří Menzel, 1966) and The Shop on Main Street (Klos and Ján Kadár, 1965) won Oscars and Miloš Forman’s The Firemen’s Ball (1967) and Loves of a Blonde (1965) were nominated.
After the Soviet clampdown in 1968, many directors chose to emigrate and established themselves abroad. After the Velvet Revolution, difficulties in adapting to the free market nearly led to the studios’ bankruptcy in 2000. However, the dramatic decline in the number of Czech films, which are now seeing something of a revival, was gradually compensated for by the increase in foreign productions, particularly those made by US producers, including such blockbusters as Mission Impossible (1996), The Bourne Identity (2002) and Casino Royale (2006). The 2016 World War II thriller Anthropoid starring Cillian Murphy and Toby Jones was shot almost entirely in Prague.