- Magnesia Litera 2014 · Shortlist
A History of Light
Dějiny světla
Jan Němec (born 1981)
Translated by David Short
English editions
In EnglishA History of Light
Seagull Books · United Kingdom · 19 April 2025 · Hardcover · 412 pages
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Speaking to its hero as 'you', this novel follows the photographer František Drtikol over more than fifty years. He is a dandy from the mining town of Příbram, a portraitist famous across the world whose business goes bankrupt, a master of the nude who never has luck with women, and a mystic and Buddhist who comes to believe in communism. The story takes in a mining disaster in his home town, his Munich teachers musing on the secret of light, the trauma of the war and the birth of Czechoslovakia, then his first successes in Prague, his private life, and what leads him to close his celebrated studio and seek a spiritual light instead.
AI-generated summary
About the book
- Form
- Novel
- Length
- 481 pages in the original
- Genres
- Historical (assigned by AI)
- Set in
- Czechia, Germany
- First published
- 2013 by Host
- Author's age
- 32 when first published
- ISBN
9788072949625 (original)
9781803094168 (Seagull Books, United Kingdom)
- More
- Wikidata