First published 1998
Kaspar Utz sits surrounded by his collection of Meissen porcelain figurines in his Prague apartment. The delicate shepherdesses and courtiers represent more than beauty to him. They embody his resistance to the gray conformity of Communist Czechoslovakia. Each year the authorities grant Utz permission to travel abroad. Each year he considers staying in the West, claiming asylum, building a new life. But the state forbids him from taking his porcelain collection across the border. The figurines must remain in Prague. So Utz returns home every time, bound by his obsession with these fragile objects. He has become a prisoner twice over. The Communist regime controls his movements and his choices. His beloved collection controls his heart. Chatwin crafts each sentence with precision as he follows this unconventional man who values art above liberty. The novel earned a Booker Prize shortlist for its portrait of how beauty and possession can both liberate and enslave.
Genres: fiction, art, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-study, fish-out-of-water, man-vs-society
Setting: Prague
Period: Communist Era
142 pages · Paperback · Vintage