Klika byla vysoko – Szpuk Roman (2018)

In the extensive autobiographical prose Klika byla vysoko, poet, meteorologist, and wanderer Roman Szpuk describes a part of his life spent mainly in the forests of Šumava. He presents himself as a perceptive observer of ordinary yet fascinating details that remain undiscovered by others. With rich and dense language, he brings closer the world among plants and animals, which is distant for most people. At the same time, he lives in everyday reality, openly describing visits to his sick mother and elderly people confined to their beds. He encounters wanderers, loners, and madmen, prays, sleeps outdoors, and walks through the forest in all weather. In his authentic diary entries, the tradition of romantics, pilgrims, seekers, and rebels comes alive again. The text flows freely like Szpuk's beloved clouds and is interspersed with short poems – haikus. The book is complemented by the author's photographs taken with a self-made camera obscura. Roman Szpuk also gained wider recognition as one of the Šumava hermits in Aleš Palán's book Raději zešílet v divočině (2018).