Prague: City of Fantasy

[jerome]

Prague: City of Fantasy est le titre d'un article sur la capitale de la République Tchèque.

Il est signé Ann et Jeff VanderMeer.

Voici le début
"To us, there may be no more fantastical city than Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, situated on the banks of the Vltava River. Its roots in fantasy go much deeper than Franz Kafka, who once lived in a room in the city's walls. They also go deeper than the tale of the Golem, one of Prague's most famous fictitious exports.

A penchant for the fantastical seems to come naturally to Czechs, perhaps nowhere more in evidence than Jaroslav Hasek's tales of the good soldier Svejk. In these absurd stories, Svejk's fabrications become ever more bizarre and grandiose, and yet fool everyone with the sincerity and detail of their telling. In one particular tale, Svejk claims to have discovered such oddities as the Sulphur-Bellied Whale, the Edible Ox, and Sepia Infusorium, a kind of sewer rat.

Indeed, Frank Blei, a member of Franz Kafka's writing circle, must have been taken by the spirit of Prague when he was moved to describe his colleague as part of an imaginary bestiary: "The Kafka. The Kafka is a magnificent and very rarely seen moon-blue mouse, which eats no flesh, but feeds on bitter herbs. It is a bewitching sight, for it has human eyes." "

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