Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History
Paris may have been the capital of the nineteenth century, as Walter Benjamin observed, but for Sayer it is Prague—with its avant-garde impulses, erotic subcurrents, political contradictions, and moments of hideous violence—that best exemplifies the twentieth. Yet Prague “offers slim pickings for grand narratives, least of all for grand narratives of progress,” and therefore, suggests Sayer, the best way to reveal the Czech nucleus of culture at the crossroads of Eastern and Western Europe is through the dark mirror of surrealism. And so this selection is both an examination of the Prague experiences of André Breton, Guillaume Apollinaire, Vítezslav Nezval, and other surrealists, and a surrealist document in its own right, revealing its truths in a big, messy knot of jarring juxtapositions, playful obscenities, and found objects of profound beauty. Though some may find themselves frustrated by this fragmentary, nonlinear approach, readers up for the challenge will likely find themselves delighted by Sayer’s erudition as he reintroduces dozens of figures, many long forgotten or scarcely known to non-Czechs, into our understanding of twentieth-century cultural history. --Brendan Driscoll