In 1976, in the midst of the dark Brezhnev era, Zuckerman, Philip Roth's alter ego, travels to Prague, right into the middle of a completely surreal world. There, in a nation straightjacketed by totalitarian Communism, he discovers a literary predicament, marked by institutionalized oppression, that is rather different from his own. Because there is no prospect of escaping Soviet rule, life in the Prague Circles centers on decadent debauchery for want of other options. Alcohol and sex are the remaining alternatives to creativity and freedom.