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1. Describe the protagonist and narrator of "The Prague Orgy". What are the main subjects and themes in the novel?

In "The Prague Orgy", Nathan Zuckerman is a Jewish American novelist and the protagonist and narrator. He goes on a quest in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1976 to retrieve the unpublished manuscript of a great Yiddish/Czech writer. During his time in Prague, he encounters eccentric writers and artists who are obsessed with sex and the fact they are being spied on by the police.

2. Where does the narrative open? What year is it?

The novel opens in a hotel room on January 11, 1976 in New York City. Nathan Zuckerman, an American novelist, meets Zdenek Sisovsky, a Czech writer whose writing is banned in Czechoslovakia. Sisovsky flatters Zuckerman, saying he is a great American writer.

3. Why does Sisovsky tell Zuckerman his novel is banned? Why did he leave Czechoslovakia?

Sisovsky explains his satirical book is banned because the Russians chose to ban it. He also explains that if he stayed in Czechoslovakia, the authorities would not let him write or speak in public. Writers and intellectuals become persecuted in Czechoslovakia because Czechoslovakia accepts the Soviet occupation.

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