Zánik městečka Olšiny – Havlíček Jaroslav (2023)

The basis of the original anthology, compiled and prefaced by Petr Boček, consists of the novellas The Destruction of the Town of Olšiny and The Emerald Surf, supplemented by ten short stories from various periods of the author's work. Jaroslav Havlíček (1896–1943) is best known for his novels Oil Lamps, The Invisible Man, and Helimadoe, but he also skillfully and engagingly addresses the themes of the tragedy of the human condition, heightened mental states, and the influence of the environment on the psyche in his shorter prose. In the bizarre The Destruction of the Town of Olšiny, he allows God to die and describes the impact this event has on the lives of the inhabitants of a Czech small town, while in the melancholic and captivatingly Prague-based The Emerald Surf, he follows the fate of Ondřej Nestroides, the son of an astronomer, afflicted by a mysterious and paralyzing lunar illness. The book contains the following stories: The Destruction of the Town of Olšiny, The Black Lady, The Wind, Mr. Balabán's Watch, Faust's Death, Holy Night, The Dog, The Angel of Death, Everything for the Child, The Trap, Coming from Hell, and The Emerald Surf.