The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch: A Grotesque Romanetto

Philosopher, novelist, essayist, eccentric, no other Czech author has had a greater impact on underground culture than Ladislav Klima (1878-1928). Mentor to artists as varied as Bohumil Hrabal and the Plastic People of the Universe, Klima's philosophy was radically subjectivist, and he felt it should be lived rather than merely spoken or written about. With Nietzsche as his paragon, he embarked upon a lifelong pursuit to become God, or Absolute Will, elucidating this quest in many letters, aphorisms, and essays. Yet among Klima's fictional texts, the apotheosis of his philosophy is The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch, his most acclaimed novel. Ostensibly a series of journal entries, the tale chronicles the descent into madness of Prince Sternenhoch, the German Empire's foremost aristocrat and favorite of Kaiser “Willy.” Having become the “lowliest worm” at the hands of his estranged wife, Helga, the Queen of Hells, Sternenhoch eventually attains an ultimate state of bliss and salvation through the most grotesque perversions. Klima explores here the paradoxical nature of pure spirituality with a humor that is as darkly comical as it is obscene. This volume also includes his notorious text “My Autobiography.”

The Modern Novel

The non-conformist work of Ladislav Klima has almost always shocked, has often incited scandal, but has hardly ever left us indifferent. One need not accept his view of the world to experience it and enjoy it in all of its ambiguity, just as one does the stage. ― Vaclav Havel There's much of the whip in all this, a great fascination with all things perverse ... Much scabrous wit and the hallucinatory nature of events leave the reader uncertain about taking anything seriously. ― Publishers Weekly As a story of one man's madness, this work is up there with Dostoevsky and Kafka, though with a bitter sense of humor and absurdist, almost maniacal outlook on life.

About the Author

Ladislav Klima (1878-1928) was born in the western Bohemian town of Domažlice. He settled in Prague where he wrote his first work in 1904, a volume of philosophy. While only part of Klima's oeuvre was published during his lifetime, numerous manuscripts were edited and collected posthumously. And though his writing was marginalized and suppressed by the Communist regime for many years, it still managed to inspire a a generation of underground artists and dissident intellectuals with its vision of one's innate ability to achieve inner freedom through the pursuit of spiritual sovereignty.

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