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Prague Pictures: A Portrait of the City (Writer and the City.)
The fourth book in Bloomsbury's Writer and the City series.
From one of the foremost chroniclers of the modern European experience, a panoramic view of a city that has seduced and bewitched visitors for centuries.
Prague is the magic capital of Europe. Since the days of Emperor Rudolf II, "devotee of the stars and cultivator of the spagyric art", who in the la...more
Hardcover, 244 pages
Published
March 4th 2003
by Bloomsbury USA
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Just wonderful. Inspired me to visit, which I did a couple of months ago. The book is atmospheric and surprising - there's a remarkable tale of Banville smuggling some of Josef Sudek's photographs out of the country. It's also funny (which I didn't expect from Banville, actually). This passage on Czech cuisine rings comically true -
‘Lunch. Ah. Perhaps this is the place to say a word about Czech cuisine; a word, and then on to more appetizing topics. My Czech friends, whom I value dea...more
‘Lunch. Ah. Perhaps this is the place to say a word about Czech cuisine; a word, and then on to more appetizing topics. My Czech friends, whom I value dea...more
Oh what a pompous wandering 'recounting' this is...ugh. I read this before and DURING my visit to Prague. The BEST thing I brought way from it was an introduction to Sudek, the photographer...although Prague doesn't think much of him except to capitalize on his photos of the St. Vitus Cathderal - which ARE wonderful...
This was, I guess, just too melodramatic for me and so very personal to Banville. It was NOT, in my opinion, a 'portrait' but rather a vague, 'mystical' wandering whic...more
This was, I guess, just too melodramatic for me and so very personal to Banville. It was NOT, in my opinion, a 'portrait' but rather a vague, 'mystical' wandering whic...more
And now, from the man who doesn't know how to write a bad sentence, a travel book that isn't a travel book at all, but rather an elegant and witty appreciation of a city with many pasts. Banville's own past, both personal and literary--viz, his art-historical sort-of-trilogy BOOK OF EVIDENCE, GHOSTS, and ATHENA; his novel on Kepler--is woven through the fabric of Prague's history. The narrative is composed as a set of brief (nonfiction) stories and moves fluidly across time. I kept wondering as ...more
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Read this while in Prague. Paints a picture of Prague during the Communist era and throws in a few historical stories about the city. Didn't sustain my interest much though.
Read Ripellino.
Banville's reflections make for very interesting reading when viewed from the perspective of another Irish writer mixing it up in the Golden City. I had no idea this Booker-prize winning Wexford man had such a connection with the Czech capital, but his historical and literary-themed ponderings are a treat for any thinking person based here in CZ. What a great idea for a series of books on The Writer and the City too, more please!
Banville did an excellent job at capturing my own feelings toward Prague. Even though it's been years since I was there, it's a city that has firmly lodged itself in my mind and just won't leave.
This book is a series of portraits of a city, both modern and historical. Some of them are based on Banville's own visits to and experiences in Prague, while others are based on historical research into various famous inhabitants.
This book is a series of portraits of a city, both modern and historical. Some of them are based on Banville's own visits to and experiences in Prague, while others are based on historical research into various famous inhabitants.
Pbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbtttttttttttttttttttt.
I was hoping to learn more about Prague, not slog through the author's unending desire to use high numbers of large words and countless uninteresting historical facts to prove how much smarter he is than the rest of us.
I was hoping to learn more about Prague, not slog through the author's unending desire to use high numbers of large words and countless uninteresting historical facts to prove how much smarter he is than the rest of us.
John Banville is one of those writers who drops little gems of philosophy every 50 pages or so.
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In Portuguese, found it after a week in Prague.
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Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminiscence of growing up ...more
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