1922Mitteleuropa
The Absolute at Large
Karel Čapek · 1890–1938 · Czechoslovakia
Originally Továrna na Absolutno (Czech)
Why it matters
A reactor that annihilates matter for limitless free energy leaks a strange byproduct: pockets of the literal, undiluted Absolute, which drive everyone who touches it into fanatic ecstasy and holy war. Čapek's giddiest disaster-satire skewers industrial optimism and fundamentalism in one runaway premise.
At a glance
satirespeculative fictioncomedy
Difficulty 4/10fast pace224 pagesFast, episodic, journalistic chapters keep a wild premise moving without difficult prose.
Where to go next
Karel Čapek · 1920R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)Lvl 4Fast paced
Karel Čapek · 1924KrakatitLvl 5Medium pace
Karel Čapek · 1936War with the NewtsLvl 4Medium pace
Jaroslav Hašek · 1923The Good Soldier ŠvejkLvl 3Fast paced
Bohumil Hrabal · 1976Too Loud a SolitudeLvl 6Slow burn
Milan Kundera · 1984The Unbearable Lightness of BeingLvl 5Slow burn