Magic Prague

Rating:
Summary: Frank Kafka meets Microsoft Word
Review: Definitely not light reading, Ripellino's Magic Prague churns its way through the culture of Prague with exquisite attention to minute detail. This is a book which explores the historic underside of Prague, providing the visitor with a level of information not elsewhere found.

Rating:
Summary: So that's why it's called Magic Prague
Review: I tried to read this before my trip to Prague and found it inaccessible and its language pretentious. Then, after a week in the city, I started reading again. And couldn't stop. It is only when you visit the Jewish cemetery or Prague Castle that the myths, ghosts and executioners of the past come alive. Although a tough read, it is exceptionally rewarding for the traveller who wants to take more home from Prague than just Bohemian crystal.

Rating:
Summary: Spirits of Prague
Review: If any book can capture the Genius Loci of Prague, this is the one.

Rating:
Summary: Prague for the deeply romantic, literate traveler
Review: The late Mr. Ripellino has amassed a tribute to Prague like no other. It breathes. Anyone that has ever visited the "Golden City of a 100 spires" must have had an inkling deep in their soul of what the author has magnificently put down in words. The "Old Crone [Prague] has claws", as Kafka put it, and Ripellino shows exactly why that is so. The research that went into this book is simply astounding, with my edition having 44 pages of tightly spaced notes, of 333 pages total, including index. The book takes us from one extraordinary Prague tale to another, with myth, legend and reality all melting into one pot of magic. Anyone that plans to visit the center of Europe should read this book in advance, or at least skim it on the plane. It is a tough read, being full of poetic phrases and meticulous details, which often beg for multiple readings. However, the time spent is well worth it. The book will serve as a beautiful bridge between the soul and the mind, as the traveler wanders along the cobblestones of thousand year old "Praha." p.s. I bought my edition (Picador) in Prague for 315 Kcs, or about US$ 9. The price on the back of the paperback is 9.99 British Pounds, which is about US$ 17, depending on the day.

Rating:
Summary: Morbid Prague? Turgid Prague?
Review: This book isn't great, but it could be a lot better if cut to, say, 50 pages (from 281, plus 40 pages of footnotes.) Ripellino is a modern pedant who floods his disjointed essay with adjectives, metaphors and literary quotes; not necessarily a bad thing, but not good when endlessly rehashing the same idea. The idea is that Prague is a melancholic, Kafkaesque city haunted by the ghosts of 4 centuries of disasters. There're fragments of (heavily interpreted) history, quantities of literary allusions, and perverse descriptions of eccentric art and science, but its all so poorly organized and repetitive that it makes for a bore of a book.

'Magic', for Ripellino, means atmosphere; he has NO sympathy for occultism and to him Prague's Golden Age, the late Renaissance period, is a period of fools (Rudolf II and other alchemically-minded aristocrats), swindlers (Edward Kelley and all other alchemists), quacks (John Dee and other mystics), and knaves (Rudolf's ministers.) Half the book is spent archly ridiculing the period and its passions.

In Part Two Ripellino paints an equally grim picture of the period from Rudolf II's abdication in 1612 to, oh, sometime around 1946. But it's still all bits and pieces. We get a gloomy look at a few historical figures, some poets and writers, maybe an artist or two.

Kafka is the dominant spirit of Ripellino's Prague and what he gives us is a dismal, victimized city. There are no maps or pictures (except for 4 on the hardback's book jacket.) This suits the essay, which is more about Ripellino's mental image of Prague than of a physical locale.

Rating:
Summary: Morbid Prague? Turgid Prague?
Review: This book isn't great, but it could be a lot better if cut to, say, 50 pages (from 281, plus 40 pages of footnotes.) Ripellino is a modern pedant who floods his disjointed essay with adjectives, metaphors and literary quotes; not necessarily a bad thing, but not good when endlessly rehashing the same idea. The idea is that Prague is a melancholic, Kafkaesque city haunted by the ghosts of 4 centuries of disasters. There're fragments of (heavily interpreted) history, quantities of literary allusions, and perverse descriptions of eccentric art and science, but its all so poorly organized and repetitive that it makes for a bore of a book.

'Magic', for Ripellino, means atmosphere; he has NO sympathy for occultism and to him Prague's Golden Age, the late Renaissance period, is a period of fools (Rudolf II and other alchemically-minded aristocrats), swindlers (Edward Kelley and all other alchemists), quacks (John Dee and other mystics), and knaves (Rudolf's ministers.) Half the book is spent archly ridiculing the period and its passions.

In Part Two Ripellino paints an equally grim picture of the period from Rudolf II's abdication in 1612 to, oh, sometime around 1946. But it's still all bits and pieces. We get a gloomy look at a few historical figures, some poets and writers, maybe an artist or two.

Kafka is the dominant spirit of Ripellino's Prague and what he gives us is a dismal, victimized city. There are no maps or pictures (except for 4 on the hardback's book jacket.) This suits the essay, which is more about Ripellino's mental image of Prague than of a physical locale.