New books

The book written by the Czech-German writer Johannes Urzidil presents the most comprehensive literary treatment of Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s relationship with Bohemia to date. Urzidil has examined Goethe’s sojourns in Bohemia (the German poet spent almost three years there altogether), his interest in Czech and German-language culture in Bohemian lands as well as its nature virtually all his adult life. Consequently, his Goethe in Bohemia depicts this extraordinary relationship on the backdrop of cultural, historical and political circumstances. Thanks to Urzidil’s profound knowledge of the topic, his personal enthusiasm, humane perspective and enormous storytelling talent, today’s readers can get an insight about life in Bohemian lands during the first third of the 19^th century and uncover – perhaps previously abstruse - circumstances in Central European history and culture. Urzidil’s book is a notable contribution to the history of Czech-German cultural relations without omitting wider European context.