Ladislav Klíma (Czech writer) collected works

The publishing house TORST started publishing the collected works of Ladislav Klíma in 1996 with the volume of “Velký román” (A Great Novel). They plan to publish six volumes.
The work of the Czech philosopher and writer Ladislav Klíma (1878–1928) is exceptional for being multiform. It includes a philosophical diary, long vivid letters of extraordinary literary quality, philosophical journalism, a large novel, short horror stories and a number of plays. His works have consistently attracted readers of a wide range of interests and orientations, and have inspired philosophers, sociologists, poets, painters, sculptors, dramatists, filmmakers and musicians. Among the people who have found Klíma to be an important source of inspiration are Václav Havel, members of the music group “The Plastic People of the Universe” (who have used some of his writings in long compositions) and film director Jan Němec (who made a film based on Klíma’s novel Utrpení knížete Sternenhocha (translated into English as The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch). Klíma’s plays have been performed with great success on Czech stages. He has also inspired two of the greatest figures in Czech culture in the second half of the twentieth century – Jiří Kolář and Bohumil Hrabal, who devoted some of their own work to him, were influenced by him, and in many ways based themselves on him. Today’s youth sees Klíma as a cult author, and those of his works that have been published so far have not only been welcomed by people with a long-standing interest in his thinking but have also become part of reading lists at secondary schools and universities.