Peter Rosai (b. 1946) is one of the significant figures of Austrian literature in the last third of the 20th century, the author of more than ten novels: “Who was Edgar Alan?” (1977), “From Here to There” (1978, Russian translation 1982), “Be Happy!” (1980), “Man & Woman” (1984, Russian translation 1994). “Persona” (1995), “Vienna, Metropolis” (2005), several collections of prose: “Etude about a world without people. A Study of a Journey Without a Goal" (1980), travel essays; “Arrows in Flight” (1993), “St. Petersburg - Paris - Tokyo” (2000). For seven years, Peter Rozay worked to create a wide panorama of modern life. This is how a composition of six parts appeared, which the author proposes to consider as a kind of temple with a central altar and chapels. In the center is the book “15,000 Souls”, which gave its name to the entire cycle. “Comedy” and “Rebellion”, “Man & Woman” and “Clouds” are located symmetrically on the sides. The entire composition ends with “Our Description of the Landscape.” The whole thing represents a story of human sorrows and suffering, like the paintings of I. Bosch. The novel “15,000 Souls” (1985) is one of the writer’s great successes. Agent Klockman travels the world in search of the latest world records, the most incredible and at the same time highlighting the state of the modern world. “The Book of Records of Rozay” is an absurdist story about the world of “dead souls” and about a business journey, the goal of which is power over this world, as meaningless as the very desire for it.