Author | Ἰωάννης Πυρεῖα = Jan Křesadlo, "Nemo" |
---|---|
Translator | Jan Křesadlo |
Country | Czech literature |
Language | Greek, Czech, Latin, English |
Genre | epic poem, hexameter, Science fiction, satire, poetry, postmodern |
Publisher | Ivo Železný |
Publication date
|
1995 |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 542 |
ISBN |
Ἰωάννης Πυρεῖα = (Jan Křesadlo) «Ποιητοῦ ἀδήλου ΑΣΤΡΟΝΑΥΤΙΛΙΑ ἢ ἡ Μικροοδύσσεια ἡ κοσμική» - An unknown poet's Starvoyage, or Small Space Odyssey (1994) is the magnum opus of poet and writer Jan Křesadlo, one of the most unusual works of twentieth century Czech literature. It was published shortly after his death, as a commemorative first edition. ()
While no full English translation exists as yet, there is a sample chapter translation online, and a German translation of the fully transcribed and annotated Greek text is in preparation.
The work is an epic poem, comprising 6575 verses of hexameter in Homeric Greek, with parallel translation into Czech hexameter. The postmodern science fiction story is inspired by the philosophical postulate of quantum physics, that for something to exist it must be observed. The Watcher over the Cosmos turns out to be a certain sheep. To kill the sheep would mean the end of everything. The Sheep that Watches the Cosmos is kidnapped by a villain called Mandys, and pursued by a rapid reaction commando force, whose captain is called Udeis, (= nobody, following the example of Captain Nemo, as well as the Odyssey's original hero, Ulysses, who went by the name Noman or Nobody in order to fool the Cyclops Polyphemus).
Aside from the science fiction and epic poem aspects, the postmodern playfulness of the plot itself is underlined by the Czech language Prologue (see part translation ) in Karel Čapek's mystification style. Jan Křesadlo purports to have come into the whole process not as the author, but as a translator of the Greek original "by an unknown author." We are to believe this is a real travelogue, whose alleged author is a space-time travelling Captain Udeis / Nemo, (as confirmed by "copyright Nemo" for the Greek text edition.) Nemo's travelogue was dictated to his universal translator Franta (which is a creature resembling a skunk, but made entirely of brain tissue.) Franta, who lacked common sense, thought it wise to write it all down in Homeric Greek, so as to make it more famous. At least, that is the claim made to Křesadlo by the 'archivist Divíšek' (a reference to Čapek's character of the same name) who brings the Greek text to Křesadlo for translation. (Albeit Křesadlo supposes that Divíšek wrote it himself.)