Question

"This cup is a detail, a small uncharred finger from the mid - century bonfire." Explain.

Answer 1

A beautiful cup from Czechoslovakia was offered to the writer Hampel. Czechoslovakia was destroyed in the Second World War which started in 1939 or the mid-century. The married women lost their husbands and family members in the war. Everything was destroyed but the cup remained unaffected.            
       Here, uncharred finger indicates that the whole body or everything was burnt except the little finger or the little tea cup in the war. Czechoslovakia lost its culture, tradition, identity, freedom, etc. in the war. The cup is the symbol of the art of the Czechs.