by Philip Roth
First published 1985
In Philip Roth's The Prague Orgy, a writer named Nathan Zuckerman travels to Prague to retrieve the unpublished stories of a silenced Jewish author. Navigating a web of censorship and surveillance, Zuckerman plunges into a surreal underworld of dissidents and journalists. As he hunts for the elusive manuscripts, he confronts the personal and political costs of artistic expression under an oppressive regime. Roth's novella offers a vivid, often darkly comic portrait of Cold War-era Czechoslovakia and the high stakes of cultural resistance.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 20th-century, political-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, political-intrigue
Setting: Czech Republic, Prague
Period: Cold War
89 pages · Hardcover · J. Cape