Sedm bláznů

The masterpiece of Roberto Arlt (1900-1942), a singular and unique phenomenon in Argentine literature, is a brilliant psychological probe as well as an exquisite parody of literary genres and social discourses. The life of Remo Erdosaino, a collector in a sugar company and a disgraced inventor, is turned upside down when it is revealed that he has embezzled six hundred pesos and seven cents. After being fired from his job and abandoned by his wife, he clings to a bizarre secret society around the Astrologer, a latter-day messiah and tyrant who aims to create a new social order through revolution.

The novel Seven Fools (1929) depicts Argentina on the edge of the abyss. A monstrous world teeming with dreamers, revolutionaries and would-be dictators, it can be seen as Arlt's ominous prophecy of the country's tormented development in the 20th century and still retains extraordinary appeal as a great apocalyptic work of modern literature.

Czech edition