Volume 20, Number 5 · April 5, 1973
After the Czech "New Wave"
By Neal Ascherson
All the Bright Young Men and Women: A Personal History of the Czech Cinema
by Josef Skvorecky
Peter Martin, 256 pp., $8.95
Political Grouping in the Czechoslovak Reform Movement
by Vladimir V. Kusin
Columbia University Press, 224 pp., $11.00
Reform Rule in Czechoslovakia: The Dubcek Era 1968-1969
by Galia Golan
Cambridge University Press, 327 pp., $18.50
Antonin Liehm, that tireless memorialist of Czech culture in the Sixties, somewhere tells a story about a discussion in Prague between Novotny and Khrushchev. How did one keep the impudent sparrow of art in order? Novotny suggested squeezing it in one's fist until it became meek and breathless. Khrushchev found this unsubtle. The thing to do was to hold the sparrow between finger and thumb and pull out all its feathers one after another. When the creature was quite nude and plucked, you opened your hand. And the sparrow would have no choice but to snuggle back into your palm for warmth.
Review, 2947 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |