Customer Reviews

From Good King Wenceslas to the Good Soldier Svejk: A Dictionary of Czech Popular Culture

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Andrew Roberts has compiled a highly informative and enjoyable dictionary of Czech popular culture.

The topics covered include society, politics, history, literature, music, movies, sports and much more.

Regardless of length, the entries are clear and well-written. Historical background is provided whenever needed.

The book is rounded off with a useful alphabetical and thematic index to all dictionary entries.

People interested in Czech history, culture and politics will find this work a valuable source for informative descriptions and definitions.

All the more so because it is written in a lucid, wry style which is a pleasure to read.

The author has a good eye for the little oddities of everyday life and a remarkable understanding of the Czech mentality and worldview (I especially liked the way he highlights Czech quirks with respect and humor).

A big plus is the author's website / blog, where he regularly updates and extends his book.

Roberts has achieved nothing but a perfectly condescending caricature of the Czech people. It is completely incomprehensible, how he could collect so much data and not gain any understanding of the culture. Mr. Roberts sees everything as a communist propaganda, and has difficulty imagining that people could have had any joy in their life during communism. My absolute favorite: the Czech's love of smoking, according to Mr. Roberts apparently stems, "from the fact that there was so little to live for under communism." But then again how can one expect any depth or intellectual rigor from a writer who claims that his bibliography is lacking because "it would be impossible to cite all the works..." REALLY?

This is a well-written and informative resource on 20th century Czech culture, concentrating on, as the author writes in his preface, people, places, and events familiar to most every Czech adult, but essentially unknown outside the culture. I would characterize its tone as something akin to the Culture Smart/Culture Shock series, but written in far greater depth. I would recommend it to students of Czech, to those who have lived or are living in the Czech Republic, and to anyone who would like to get a deeper perspective on 20th-century mass Czech culture. This is not, as the author cautions, an exhaustive account of Czech history and culture, nor would it be the primary resource for an academic dissertation, but as someone who lived in the Czech Republic for many years and has family living there, I can assure you that the entries ring true and give an insight into the Czech mindset and experience, particularly as it was lived under communism.

I must confess that I am puzzled at the dismissive reviews of this title, as it is clear that the author is both familiar with, and a lover of, Czech culture. I am not familiar with other titles in English like this, and heartily recommend it to other Czechophiles.

For a work that implies an intimate knowledge of the Czech psyche, it is incomprehensible that the author places Czechs in "Eastern" Europe. Otherwise extremely reticent to correct foreigners in their mistakes, this is one area in which every Czech I know is crystal clear: They are CENTRAL Europeans. Prague is almost exactly the centre of Europe, geographically; but more than this, Czechs resent being classed with the Eastern European "barbarians" with whom they were forced for 40 years to share an ideology.

Whether Mr. Roberts is oblivious, or simply insensitive, to this national sentiment, his lack of understanding heavily handicaps any credibility he may have had.

I first ordered this book for myself, in preparation for a presentation I was giving on my experience as an American Grad Student in Prague. The book was helpful at jogging my memory about the highlights of Czech culture. It also contains excellent trivia that I would never have found out otherwise. I ended up ordering copies of the book for several of my friends who shared my experiences, and they have loved it too!