Description
Set in Prague between 1983 and 1987, this novel follows a writer navigating the tightening grip of late communism, where ordinary pleasures—like a dance or a casual encounter—can be interrupted by the secret police. Assigned “golden” trades and shifting roles, the protagonist is forced to translate his artistic life into something the state can tolerate, turning work, surveillance, and compromise into a daily moral test. With Ivan Klima’s sharp, observant prose and a distinctly humanist sensibility, the book recreates the era’s atmosphere of fear, absurdity, and quiet resistance. At its core, it explores how creativity survives under constraint, how power reshapes identity, and how small choices become acts of self-preservation.
Available Editions
paperback
Penguin Putnam~trade
Published Jan 7, 1993
288 pages
ISBN: 9780140149135
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Details
First Published
1993
Language
eng
Content Warnings
No content warnings identified.