Panorama | All stories

Virtually unknown during his lifetime, the surreal works of Franz Kafka have become synonymous with the grotesque alienation of modern man in an unintelligible, hostile, or at best indifferent world. But as Brian Kenety has been finding out, "Kafkaesque" is not a term that does justice to the man himself, according to the authors of a new opera based on "The Trial," his most famous novel.

Traces of the earliest Czech-American urban centres are still evident today, in street names recalling Czech patriots and historic towns, Sokol community centres, St. Wenceslas churches, and the like. But it's in America's "heartland" --especially in rural communities in states like Nebraska and Texas-- where Czech traditions are perhaps best preserved and most widely celebrated.