Krakatit

Karel Čapek · 1890–1938 · Czechoslovakia

Originally Krakatit (Czech)

Why it matters

An engineer who has invented an explosive powerful enough to annihilate cities wanders fevered and hunted, pursued by governments and arms dealers eager to weaponize his discovery. Čapek's atomic-age nightmare arrived two decades before the bomb it seems to prophesy.

At a glance

A feverish, hallucinatory chase narrative blurs dream and reality throughout.