The Prague Orgy

Years ago I read two of Roth's other books from the four book Zuckerman series, "Zuckerman Unbound" and "The Anatomy Lesson," and liked them. I don't remember them well but thought I would still read "The Prague Orgy" which was the last of that series. My advice is not to read it in isolation. I'm positive it would have been lots better if I'd read it as a culmination of the Zuckerman series, but on its own, without the context of the earlier books, it seemed only pointless and not funny.So read this book while you still remember the others. If you haven't read them, read them before you open this one.

Most of this novella is the manic, nymphomaniacal rant of the character, Olga, she from whom Zuckerman is to retrieve a treasure-trove of short stories lest they be ground under the heel of Czechoslovakia's repressive Communist regime. But I have never been to Czechoslovakia and have, as a reader, no place to stand. Am I to regard the goings on in this fictional Prague as is any way representative of its people ? And if this is all some sort of literary lark, like Candy or Myra Breckinridge, why set up a plot I want to follow to its logical conclusion ? I don't get it. How can I know the dancer from the dance ?

love all his books

This book is very entertaining. It seems to give the intellectual reactions of people in an occupied country. There seems to be a sexual interning.

Got a newer edition than the one pictured

Look, it's Roth ... the dialogue alone is worth the cost. Fun stuff, as always. The only drawback is you'll only wish it were a much longer rift.

How will you ever become a good writer if you are such a bad spy?Nathan Zuckerman has gone through his own personal difficulties as a writer, but now he is taught a lesson about real problems of this world when he meets a Czech exile writer who asks him to help smuggle out manuscripts that he hid in Prague. It is 1976 and Breshnev is still in full Stalinist glory. Oppression goes along with a dosis of anti- Semitism.But lest you anticipate a dour tale of politics, Roth bypasses your worries and finds an outrageous tone of satirical scorn. Scorn of the politics and amusement at the intellectuals with their bohemian antics. His tale of friends spying on each other is the funniest treatment of the subject that I remember.This novella is written in first person narrative as Zuckerman's diary from his Prague adventure. It is written as the epilogue to the trilogy 'Zuckerman Bound'. It is not meant to stand alone, but for most purposes, it does stand alone rather well. It is a tail that doesn't need the dog, it has an own life. Readers of Kundera, Kohout, Hrabal etc will appreciate it as a nice absurd outside view of their world and a contribution to it. It seems America's chief cultural contribution to the defeat of the empire of evil is the f- word.I don't know Philip Roth well yet. I am so far much impressed by his imaginative wordsmithing, though the semi permanent focus on two main subjects might become tiring. The joys of being Jewish in America, and the troubles with sex might not be enough to keep me going for many more volumes. This novella shows a way. There is more in P.N.Roth-Zuckerman.

One cluster of Philip Roth's Zuckerman novels follows the writer Nathan Zuckerman through the career stages of young apprentice writer (THE GHOST WRITER), guilty successful rising novelist (ZUCKERMAN UNBOUND), and troubled and libidinous novelist with writer's block (THE ANATOMY LESSON). In each of these novels, Roth examines the nature of literary success while providing a backstory of associated family resentments and guilt.In the novella, THE PRAGUE ORGY, Roth examines Zuckerman in a new stage of his literary career. Specifically, TPO shows Zuckerman, now a renowned novelist, traveling to Communist Czechoslovakia in 1976. There, he tries to acquire hundreds of unpublished stories written by what another character calls the "Yiddish Flaubert." Without Zuckerman's intervention, this literary and cultural trove may otherwise be lost through fickle communist censorship or their complicated stewardship by an alcoholic Czechoslovakian writer.Chronologically, TPO is a natural addition to this cluster of Zuckerman novels, functioning as the caboose to this short literary train. But thematically, TPO moves into new territory. In particular, this three-part novella shows the celebrity novelist Zuckerman: being manipulated by an émigré literary operator; encountering a demoralized and eviscerated cultural world in Communist Prague; and trying to understand his motivation and boundaries as he tries to smuggle the stories to the West. Roth, in other words, has shifted his focus from tortured literary ambition and success to what is primarily an examination of artistic endeavor in a police state. As a result, the emotional conflicts that make the other Zuckerman novels in this cluster so fascinating get short shrift.Not that I'm so well read; but I also think that Central and Eastern European writers (Danilo Kis, for example) who lived under Stalinist and Communist rule are superior at capturing the human despair that develops in a police state. In TPO, Zuckerman parachutes into Prague, where he conveys the outsider's point of view.Regardless, this is a worthwhile read for Roth fans. Further, it does show Roth, yet again, converting his own life experience into fiction. Wasn't he, after all, deeply involved in the worthy cause of helping downtrodden Central and Eastern European writers at the time TPO's publication?

not his best

Not one of his best. "Human stain" is a much better read

This work is not Roth's best, true, but it hardly deserves to be overlooked. He paints a stirring, if silly, image of the time. His wit cuts deep into the American national psyche.

Immediate delivery. Good condition. What more can I say? Fantastic.

love roth