Summary of the book:  Ivan Matoušek’s novel Spas draws on the everyday ordinariness and its vocabulary.  In an attempt to reflect emotional and intellectual complexity, Matoušek presents a confrontation of the inner being of the main character, Sirius Demko – including burn-out, confusion, and waking-dreamlike, escapist, schizoid or paranoid elements including the desire to shed the loneliness in the contemporary world.  Spas revives and strengthens forces normally silenced in man, forces searching for the meaning of life.

Reasons for this choice:  The world-class author has not yet aught the attention of foreign publishers. He was nominated for the 2003 National Literature Prize and was shortlisted as a candidate for this prestigious prize awarded in the Czech Republic.

Rights holder: Ivan Matoušek