Poetry
Prague with Fingers of Rain
Praha s prsty deště
Vítězslav Nezval · 1936
Synopsis
Prague seen by a man who wants to look at it both as a son and as a stranger: Hradčany, the Jewish cemetery, the Troja bridge, Wenceslas Square, the National Museum, the Old Town Square, Kampa, Stromovka. Each place calls up a chain of images and associations in free verse, and the city becomes by turns a book, a talisman and the site of a shared memory.
Context
The collection appeared in 1936 from František Borový, with a layout and collages by Karel Teige, at the height of its author's Surrealist period. Some poems are dedicated to friends: Voskovec and Werich, Jaroslav Ježek, Jindřich Štyrský, Jan Mukařovský. The book was not reissued on its own until 2000. In French, François Kérel, who had known the author, gave a selection in 1960, with a preface by Philippe Soupault, then the complete text in 2022.
Who it is for
A collection of more than two hundred pages in free verse, of rapid images and associations. The 1960 selection gave part of it, the 2022 edition the whole text.
Prizes and reception
One of the most famous Czech Surrealist collections; in France, his best-known book.