Ballad of Descent (Writings From An Unbound Europe)

Martin and Tomas leave Prague on Christmas Day for "that other country." Although their destination is the mountains, their departure has been initiated by a search for their own identity--people in their country have become alike, losing their individuality and becoming products of a totalitarian regime. The pair become the guests of a high school teacher, but Martin falls in love with the teacher's daughter only to lose her in a police suppression, and the Other Country is revealed as a merciless machine of oppression that throws its people into despair.

Literature & Fiction

Vopěnka, Martin

Contemporary

Northwestern University Press

Literary

<p>A contemporary classic from the Czech Republic. To support his family, a man submits himself to a solo science experiment in the High Andes. A cosmic adventure story of big ideas and murder. Your business is dead. It seems like a deal - leave your family behind in Prague for a year, isolate yourself in a research station in the Andes, and come home with a fortune. With a treatise on black holes for company, Jakob settles in at altitude. The air is thin. Strangers pass by on dangerous pilgrimage while his young wife and kids take life in his mind. In mountain starkness, the big questions take shape - like what happens to love inside a black hole?</p>

The Fifth Dimension

Barbican Press

<p>It’s 2103 and Earth is baking. Scientists attempt to cool down the planet. With the coming of rain, a messiah is born.<br />
Eli is a technophobe haunted by premonitions of what will come. His strange magnetism draws many to his cause. For his brother Marek, Eli has always been a messiah. After his short and powerful life, Eli's most haunting prediction comes to pass: children stop being born.<br />
Thirty-five years later, only The Followers of Eli bear children. Marek leads his commune under the glare of the entire world, and recounts Eli’s story to his lover, Natalia. When she is snatched from him, Marek suspects both the followers and outside forces are to blame. Lessons from Marek’s past and revelations from his present inspire one final journey in his brother’s footsteps.<br />
My Brother the Messiah explores spirituality in the twilight of human civilization and presents a dark, vivid future of our world.</p>

My Brother the Messiah

<p><div> <div> <p>Martin Vop&#283;nka's novel, The Back of Beyond--Travels with Benjamin, is the story of a middle-aged man, who--despite his professional success and affluence--lacks fulfillment. After the tragic death of his wife, he is left alone with his eight-year-old son and quickly realizes that if he wants to succeed in the role of single parent that has suddenly been thrust upon him, he has to change fundamentally. So, he takes his son and sets out on a journey to what he dubs the Back of Beyond. Without telling anyone of their plans--in fact, without any plans to speak of--father and son travel from city to city, from country to country, assembling a travelogue that includes not only depictions of exotic places and colorful encounters, but also an inner journey, deep into the human experience and the complexities of living in a post-communist world. With its unique blend of sensitive and suggestive language, The Back of Beyond - Travels with Benjamin is a stylistic gem, rendered in seamless translation and appearing here for the first time in English.</p> </div> </div></p>

The Back of Beyond: Travels with Benjamin

Plamen Press

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Books by Vopěnka, Martin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vopěnka, Martin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ballad of Descent (Writings From An Unbound Europe)

Ballad of Descent (Writings From An Unbound Europe)

The Fifth Dimension

My Brother the Messiah

The Back of Beyond: Travels with Benjamin