Vlak osamělého muže – Waltari Mika (2018)

The Finnish writer Mika Waltari (1908 - 1979) became famous worldwide for his novel set in ancient Egypt, The Egyptian. Yet, Waltari never visited Egypt - neither before writing the novel nor after its publication. Instead, he traveled extensively to other countries where his novels are set. In his 1929 book, The Train of the Lonely Man, young Mika Waltari describes his first great journey through Europe. He traveled from Helsinki through Berlin, Prague (which surprisingly left him with a rather unflattering impression), Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, and Sofia to Istanbul, from where he returned home via Dubrovnik, Rome, and Paris. It is a captivating description of Europe, which, ten years after the end of the First World War, was still full of hopes and illusions, as well as a touching diary of a young man's emotional and creative search. Waltari embarked on a similar journey again twenty years later, writing about it in the book Journey to Istanbul (published in Czech by Hejkal in 2003). Several of his grand historical novels take place in Istanbul, including The Dark Angel, The Bloody Bath, and especially The Happy Star, which is one of the most striking modern depictions of destructive totalitarianism. The Train of the Lonely Man is being published in Czech for the first time (translated by Markéta Hejkalová), and Czech is...