Utrpení knížete Sternenhocha – Klíma Ladislav (2021)

The Suffering of Prince Sternenhoch is an expressionist novel by Ladislav Klíma, published in May 1928, a month after the author's death. Klíma himself referred to it as a "grotesque romanetto," and the text clearly shows that it was heavily influenced by the subjectively idealistic philosophy of George Berkeley, as well as the radical individualism of Arthur Schopenhauer and especially Friedrich Nietzsche. It is undoubtedly the author's most famous literary work, which also received acclaim abroad. For the most part, it is a fictional diary of the also fictional Prince Sternenhoch, one of the leading nobles of the German Empire sometime in the early twentieth century. The main character, or more precisely the anti-hero, describes his relationship with his wife Helga, whom he both admires and hates (he later refers to her in the manuscript as the Demon). In describing their shared life, the author does not shy away from obscenity bordering on perversion. Helga humiliates her husband in every possible way, commits murders, and also indulges in masochism and sadism. When she later finds a lover and plans to elope with him, it is the last straw for Sternenhoch. The jealous prince decides to put an end to his wife's desires, and he does so in a brutal manner. It is at that moment that his true suffering begins...