Pentecost / Remembering the end of the world

When magic gives way to a century of technology

Crossing the water with a dry foot, breaking a stone by whistling, talking to angels and statues of saints - all these are absolutely normal things for the inhabitants of the remote town of St. George. At the beginning of the 20th century, they live completely disconnected from the world, but they are slowly beginning to sense that the time of great technological wonders is at hand to replace their traditional ones. Odysseus, a local native, thought to be dead, returns to the town. As a seasoned globe-trotter, he helps his neighbours prepare for the revolutionary changes ahead. At the same time, he competes with his younger brother Tomáš for the favour of the beautiful and temporarily mute Julia, whom Tomáš found half-dead in the woods a few years ago. There will also be unprecedented excitement from the administrative control of the capital, from which some things, including the miracles that have worked so far, must be kept secret. In 1904, everyone is looking forward to a great new century in which everything will be beautiful and happy even without magic. Everything as it should be.

The novel, with its imaginative use of magical realism, references the great narratives of the past from Ulysses to Don Quixote to Tristram Shandy.

Published with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.