THE SPIRIT OF PRAGUE AND OTHER ESSAYS...

THE SPIRIT OF PRAGUE AND OTHER ESSAYS by Ivan Kilma, translated from the Czech by Paul Wilson (Granta: $10.95; 188 pp., paperback original). Ivan Kilma spent his childhood in the Terezin concentration camp; when he was finally freed, he saw his country taken over by a repressive Soviet-dominated regime. He joined the underground group of writers who defended freedom of conscience and expression, even when barred from publishing their work: Some of the essays in this thoughtful collection originally appeared in samizdat editions. The intellectual courage of this group (which included Vaclav Havel) stands as a challenge to American authors who disdain politics and take little interest in the deterioration of the public weal. Kilma boldly asserts, “Every society that is founded on dishonesty and tolerates crime as an aspect of normal behaviour, be it only among a handful of the elect, while depriving another group, no matter how small, of its honour and even its right to life, condemns itself to moral degradation and, ultimately, to complete collapse.”