Krakatit – Čapek Karel (2020)

Čapek's work triumphs over time, and so does Krakatit, a science fiction utopian novel based on a terrifying vision of the invention of an immensely powerful explosive that attracts unwelcome interest from soldiers, politicians, and terrorists. The novel features a captivating love, erotic, and psychological story with adventurous, detective, horror, and comedic elements, emphasizing the adventure of a free and intense life. In the main character, we discover a romantic soul, an erotic poet, a talented chemist, and also a mentally unstable person, whose motivations lead somewhere into the unknown, into an impenetrable afterlife – the genius engineer Prokop is constantly searching for the girl whose beauty struck him at the beginning of the novel: The more she eludes me, the stronger it becomes; simply… it is… fate or something. Alongside his heroic deeds, Prokop reveals himself as a lyrical lover in his romance with Princess Wille: When he came after dinner, already disbelieving and fully alert, he could hardly recognize her, how beautiful she was. She felt his astonished and jealous gaze, a gaze that enveloped her from head to toe; she shone and surrendered to him with her eyes so much, regardless of the others, that he froze… They remained awake, pressed against each other, with eyes wide open in the half-dark. He felt her heart beating feverishly; she had not spoken a word for those…