Description

As Seen on BBC Between the Covers

This is Chatwin’s unforgettable novel of a man in war-torn Communist Prague, driven to protect his collection of porcelain figurines at any cost.

Bruce Chatwin’s bestselling novel traces the fortunes of the enigmatic and unconventional hero, Kaspar Utz. Despite the restrictions of Cold War Czechoslovakia, Utz asserts his individuality through his devotion to his precious collection of Meissen porcelain. Although Utz is permitted to leave the country each year, and considers defecting each time, he is not allowed to take his porcelain with him and so he always returns to his Czech home, a prisoner both of the Communist state and of his collection.

‘Chatwin at his most erudite and evocative’ New York Times

‘His final tour de force… a pristine miniature’ Independent

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE

Publisher Review

Not a word is wasted in the telling of this tale. Each sentence is fashioned, polished, and put into place with microscopic care * Daily Telegraph * This shiny little novel is not just about pretty porcelain figurines but about dirty great issues of life and creativity * The Times * With Chatwin, the real excitement derives from an intellectual drama, in dialogues about art as a surrogate creation, a robbery of divine power, and art collecting as idolatry...For Chatwin, ideas are the supreme fictions * Observer * Bruce Chatwin at his most erudite and evocative * New York Times *