Kl'ma believed that philosophy cannot be limited to speaking or writing; it must be lived. This led him to embark on a lifelong pursuit of becoming God, which he equated with Absolute Will. Drawing his greatest inspiration from Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, he developed his conceps of will and radical subjectivism in numerous essays, aphorisms, prose works and plays. In Kl'ma's only full-length work of fiction, and his only work translated into English, a series of journal entries chronicles Prince Sternenhoch's descent into madness. The German empire's top aristocrat and the Kaiser's favorite, Sternenhoch become the "lowliest worm" at the hands of his wife, Helga, the Queen of Hells, yet eventually attains an ultimate state of bliss and salvation. Kl'ma explores here the paradoxical nature of pure spirituality with dark absurdist humor and comically grotesque, often obscene episodes.
Ladislav Kl'ma (1878-1928) was one of the preeminent Czech philosophers of the 20th century, whose work and philosophy have influenced many artists, notably Bohumil Hrabal and the Plastic People of the Universe. His major inspirations were Berkeley, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Otokar Brezina. Kl'ma destroyed many of his own manuscripts, and only part of his oeuvre was published before his death; most was edited posthumously. He is buried in Prague.
Carleton Bulkin, who is from the San Francisco area, received an M.A. in Slavic languages and literatures from Indiana University. His translations include Hidden History by Otokar Brezina (Twisted Spoon Press, 1998) and False Dawn by Ilona Lackov‡ (University of Hertfordshire Press, 2000).
Josef Zumr, a member of the Philosophy Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, teaches philosophy at Palacky University in Olomouc. He has devoted much of his professional life to Klima's work.
Michal Vavrecka is a graduate of the School of Fine Arts in Prague and now teaches painting at the State Arts School in Cesky Krumlov.
