Satan's Moments

The audiobook Satanovy chvíle (Satan’s Moments), written by Zdeněk Pošíval, read by Ondřej Brett, directed by Vladan Hýl. Jožík Bukovský #3 The story is set in Bohemia at the end of the 17th century. Near Pelhřimov, bandits have ambushed a carriage carrying a precious cargo for the Želiv Monastery. The town's mayor entrusts the yeoman Jožík Bukovský with searching the surrounding forests for traces of the culprits. Bukovský is joined by a strange Želiv monk named Norbert, who may be a secret agent of the Inquisition; the relationship between the two men is marked by hidden tension from the very beginning. The third main character of the story is Lucas, a blacksmith from Linz, a veteran of the battle against the Turks at Vienna, and the squire of a South Bohemian nobleman, who is searching for a loving embrace. Pošíval’s book Satan’s Moments is the culmination of a loose trilogy set in the post-White Mountain period (Satan’s Horses, Epocha 2003; Satan’s Spring, Epocha 2005). In its mysterious plot, it is hard to find a fitting comparison in Czech literature. Satan’s Moments is a historical detective story in much the same way as Eco’s The Name of the Rose, although it is not aimed at an exclusive circle of readers. The author skilfully builds tension, consciously connecting the past with the present and literary tradition with postmodernism, demonstrating a knowledge of folk customs and crafts as well as theology, contemporary sexuality, fashion, and etiquette. The vast majority of his characters actually lived in the Pelhřimov region in the 17th century; descendants of their families can still be found in the area today. Just as a Baroque painter applies his colours to the canvas layer by layer, so too do ever clearer portraits of all the protagonists emerge before us, page by page, from the chiaroscuro of the story. Even when we feel we know all the characters intimately, the author leaves them with a piece of inner mystery. Therein lies the magic of his storytelling. ZDENĚK POŠÍVAL Zdeněk Pošíval graduated from the Theatre Faculty of AMU and worked as a director, mainly in Moravian theatres, before later living in Prague. He pursued his artistic work as a freelancer, writing television screenplays, and theatre and radio plays, often under borrowed names. He is the recipient of several literary awards; most recently, he received the Jiří Marek Award for his novel Satan’s Spring. ONDŘEJ BRETT Ondřej Brett is a Czech theatre and television actor. After graduating from JAMU, he worked at the Šumperk Theatre. In 2011, he was engaged at the Petr Bezruč Theatre in Ostrava, where he works to this day. He collaborates with the Mír Theatre (the production God of Carnage), with the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre (the productions There's Something About Her, Smrtihlav, Habaďúra, or The Ascension of Lojzík Lapáček from Slezská Ostrava) and with Czech Television (the series Shadows in the Mist, or the children's show Are We There Yet?).