Böcker av Ivan Klíma

In the face of Europe's rising nationalism and intolerance, this timely anthology by Czech writers addresses a key issue for today. The courage of Czech writers is legendary. During the Cold War they kept their nation's conscience alive by clandestine publishing while imprisoned as "dissidents" or collecting garbage, washing windows or selling fish as "non-persons," and then they took the lead in the Velvet Revolution of 1989 that overthrew communism.In Europe and the West today - with its rising nationalism and political extremism - subtlety, humour and sharp intelligence are needed more than ever, and this volume of stories, poetry, essays and drama showcases some of the best Czech writing on these important topics. The volume also lends insight into the role of Czech writers during two of the darkest periods of Central European history: the struggles against fascism and communism.

Ivan Klima, 'a writer of enormous power and originality' (The New York Times Book Review), has penned an intimate autobiography that explores his life under Nazi and Communist regimes.

One of the last artistic expressions of life under communism, this novel captures the atmosphere in Prague between 1983 and 1987, where a dance could be broken up by the secret police, a traffic offence could lead to surveillance and where contraband books were the currency of the underworld.

The narrator of Love and Garbage has temporarily abandoned his work-in-progress - an essay on Kafka - and exchanged his writer's pen for the orange vest of a Prague road-sweeper. Gradually he admits the impossibility of being at once an honest writer and an honest lover, and with that agonising discovery comes a moment of choice.