The Millions: Ask a Book Question: The 37th in a Series (Prater? Violet?)
 
The Millions.com

Back to Most Recent Posts


Saturday, April 09, 2005

 

Ask a Book Question: The 37th in a Series (Prater? Violet?)

Linara writes in with a question about Christopher Isherwood's classic, Prater Violet:
What does the title Prater Violet imply? what is Prater Violet?
The Prater is a large public park in Vienna that contains amusement park rides, a planetarium and other attractions. (Learn more about The Prater here) The book Prater Violet is about the filming of a fictional musical of the same name which is set in the Vienna Prater. The novel is a stinging satire of Hollywood which places the vapid melodrama of the musical against the backdrop of the real world tragedy of the encroaching Nazi menace in Austria in the 1930s. As was typical of Isherwood, he based one of the characters in the book, a young screenwriter, on himself. If anyone else knows more about Prater Violet please leave a comment.

- C. Max Magee @ 4:11 PM ~ comments: 0 ~

A Year in Reading 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
Visit The Millions Book Review Index


Comments:


Post a Comment

Please Note:

  1. Comments with unrelated links will be deleted. If you'd like to reach our readers, consider buying an advertisement instead.
  2. Anonymous and pseudonymous comments that do not add to the conversation will be deleted at our discretion.

Sponsor:


Classic Millions

2003: March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December ||| 2004: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December ||| 2005: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December ||| 2006: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December ||| 2007: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December ||| 2008: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December ||| 2009: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August