Why We Can Touch Everything and Read Nothing Confession: Losing the Ability to Read For most of my adult life I could not imagine existence outside books. Reading was not merely a habit or cultivated taste; it was the environment in which thinking occurred. Books structured time,…

Milan Kundera, student, born 1 April 1929 in Brno, resident of Prague VII, student housing, King Jiří VI Street, appeared today at the local police precinct and made a statement concerning Iva Militka, a student living in the same building... With these dry and faceless lines –…

„Hello,“ said someone behind him, and he nearly slipped off the seat of the worn, spinning chair – his faithful comrade in the endless battle with words. He turned slowly, cursing the pain in his neck that no longer allowed faster movements. The blurred figure across from him…

It begins in a drowsy provincial town — Prespan, somewhere deep in 1980s Bulgaria — at a moment when history quietly forgets its manners. The so-called “Revival Process” is in full swing, and neighbour turns against neighbour in a fog of fear, confusion, and officially…