Books in Prague
For a kid who grew up in trailer parks, the experience of wandering the beautiful old city of Prague in the Czech Republic was surreal. I am overwhelmingly grateful to have just visited Prague with my bride of 45 years. I had to say something about the books of Prague. First, there is the amazing Strahov monastery library. The picture won’t do it justice. Karen arranged for us to tour inside the library. Otherwise, we would have only been able to peek in the door on a standard tour. When I saw up close how libraries were treated 500 years ago, I was reminded how much they valued knowledge in the middle ages, perhaps in a way we can’t fathom today, where information overload is the paradigm. The effort to write and bind and preserve a single volume prior to the advent of movable type is astounding. Say what you will about the gilded excess of church structures in the baroque era, their libraries were beacons of learning and repositories of valuable knowledge. The beauty of the libraries reflected as much respect for truth in almost any form as cathedrals did for the catholic faith.
A little bit of background on Prague. It is in a small country in a strategic part of the world. Consequently, it has been the scene of many brutal military conflicts. Most of our tour guides shared personal stories of family members who suffered under either the Nazi regime in World War II or the communist regime from the end of World War II until the 1990s, or both. In spite of the challenges of a small country with a small economy, they all expressed a strong preference for the chaotic freedom they now have. They are patriots in the best sense and often voiced their appreciation for the bravery of the Ukrainians in their struggle against Russia the past nearly 5 years. Also, Czechs love American music. One of our tour guides, a young man in his mid-20’s, took us to a place for traditional Czech food (lots of meat and potatoes and dumplings). The place had American pop music playing in the background. While we were eating, Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s Fortunate Son come on and our guide said “Oh, cool, I haven’t heard that in a while.” In case you don’t get the reference, he was appreciating a song that was popular in another country 30 years before he was born.
Prague is also very cosmopolitan, in part due to tourism, but also because it is a center of learning to this day. We found two English language bookshops within walking distance of our hotel. One was called Shakespeare, where I found a book that was actually on my wish list. It was poetic justice that I found it here, so I had to buy it. I couldn’t spend much time in the bookshop section of The Globe, but we did enjoy coffee and pastry in their café! Great slogan on the front of their menu:
Letters to Olga, by Vaclav Havel, was written during the 4 1/2 years that he was imprisoned starting in 1979. In 1989, he was elected the first president of the Czech Republic after the downfall of communism. I’m looking forward to reading the insights of a man who understood both repression and freedom in ways I can scarcely imagine.
Until next time…
