Karel Čapek: The Life and Work of the Composer Foltýn

The novel is a continuation of Čapek's noetic trilogy (Hordubal, Povětroň, Obyčejný život), but unlike it, this one is no longer about the unknowability of multifaceted human life. Nine monologue testimonies about the dishonest composer Foltýn (the tenth is added by the writer's wife Olga Scheinpflugová in a brief afterword) create a very detailed portrait of Foltýn, who was denied testimony by the author himself. It is an eloquent picture of an average man and an above-average aspirant who has assumed the role of an exceptional talent and creator, composing his life's work: the opera Judith.