The Dead Guest (13 mystic stories from German classic)

The only everlasting story is a one that did not happen – this principle was applied in the literary production, fabrication was in this way closer to truth than uncertain reality. These gloomy stories are not an exception – the higher they are floating in the clouds, the more tightly they are down-to-earth, frequently thanks to the strong social overtones. Blood-curdling punishment is revenge for damage, for premature return of a verdict, for rash toying with superstition or for a committed sin. In former times, they were usually told in a friendly circle near the warmth of a fireplace, some of them have a character of a tale or legend. Even after some time, maybe in the course of three centuries, they did not lose the charm. On one hand, they evoke anxiety and terror; on the other hand they humorously react to manners which can’t be in any case regarded as period and therefore as out-of-date. By confrontation of science and religion, they also offer a discourse experience. Do nowadays wander around the world far fewer quack doctors or odd fellows, worshippers of mysticism under the cloak of science? Although we understand more than one reason for polemic, let’s say, with Christian faith and its moral, does not their fanatic repudiation open again a path to Satanism? The boundaries of science have always provided an open space for speculations and their exploitation. It can’t be underestimated even from the point of view of the period knowledge; it means to exclude the sectarianism from it or to overlook the tragic consequences of manipulation with man – and not only by the help of hypnosis.

Details
Pectus publishing house, Košice 2011
ISBN: 978-80-89435-07-4
hardcover, number of pages: 248
format: 120 x 190 mm
wholesale price with VAT: 7,80 €

They wrote about the book
Katarína Szalayová: Mŕtvy hosť