“You will soon die, and here is the prophecy of Thanatos: when thunder thunders three times, when the bells ring and the sunny uninvited guest lies on the floor next to you, go to where the corpse smell has not yet disappeared! So you will prove that you are worthy to become my beloved!” This is the parting word the god of death gives to his mistress Arte. Another heroine of this book, Melia, herself becomes the goddess of death and kills not only her family, but also two butchers and many law enforcement officers. Young Arden decides to kill and rob his friend, an old man with whom he is used to talking about philosophy. And if Sir Gucelsson, who found himself on a desert island, had four legs, we would say that with three of them he stood in madness, and with one in his right mind.

Ladislav Klima (1878–1928) he despised philistine morality and was sure that the world was an infinitely deep and enchantingly terrible grotesque. Isn’t something unknown constantly threatening us? And isn’t the grin of death itself discernible in the most welcoming of smiles?