Prague, capital of the twentieth century : a surrealist history / Derek Sayer.

Index

Includes bibliographical references (pages 529-559) and index.

List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xv Translation and Pronunciation xix Introduction 1 *1 The Starry Castle Opens 13 *The Surrealist Situation of the Object 13 *A Choice of Abdications 22 2 Zone 33 * Le passant de Prague 33 *This Little Mother Has Claws 44 *The Time of Ardent Reason 52 *The Hangman and the Poet 63 *Tongues Come to Life 69 3 Metamorphoses 79 *The Origin of Robots 79 *A Beautiful Garden Next Door to History 90 *Suicide Lane 99 *Franz Kafka's Dream 114 *Do You Speak German? Are You a Jew? 122 *Fantasy Land. Entry 1 Crown 130 *The Precious Legacy 137 4 Modernism in the Plural 144*Alfons Mucha, Steel and Concrete 144 *The Ghosts of Futures Past 156 *From the Window of the Grand Cafe Orient 170 *Granny's Valley 183 *The Electric Century 197 *All the Beauties of the World 210 5 Body Politic 221 *The Silent Woman 221 *The Poetry of Future Memories 231 *Renaissance Ballet 242 *Beautiful Ideas That Kill 251 *Sexual Nocturne 261 *Cut with a Kitchen Knife 270 *A War Economy, Words of Command, and Gas 280 6 On the Edge of an Abyss 288*The Beautiful Gardener 288 *The Bride Stripped Bare 298 *Gulping for Air and Violence 304 *Orders of Things 312 * L'origine du monde 324 *Dreams of Venus 331 *A Girl with a Baton 344 7 Love's Boat Shattered against Everyday Life 356*A National Tragedy with Pretty Legs 356 *The Poet Assassinated 364 *A Wall as Thick as Eternity 374 *Didier Desroches 387 *Am I Not Right, Jan Hus? 399 *Messalina's Shoulder in the Gaslight 409 *That Familiar White Darkness 419 8 The Gold of Time 426 *The Necromancer's Junk Room 426 *The Prague-Paris Telephone 433 *The Dancing House 439 Notes 445 Bibliography 529 Index 561

Setting out to recover the roots of modernity in the boulevards, interiors, and arcades of the "city of light," Walter Benjamin dubbed Paris "the capital of the nineteenth century." This title argues that Prague could well be seen as the capital of the much darker twentieth century.