Generation Y under the scrutiny of one of its members.

Literary fiction  |  English sample translation available

A dark novella about a cynical programmer who enjoys the typical lifestyle of a wealthy and secure professional from the younger generation: Filip is a games developer and data-miner who has plenty of money, so he travels and indulges in sex and drugs… The migrant crisis is coming to a head and Filip senses an opportunity to acquire even more than life has already dropped in his lap. But the reader is not quite sure which side Filip is really on: is he a rescuer or an exploiter?

The central theme of this satire is the morality of the standpoints of performance, flexibility and efficiency, the cult of experiences and improvement classes, perpetual start-ups and procrastination, which the members of generation Y adhere to blindly and devotedly. One of Michal Kašpárek’s inspirations for writing this novella about the conflict between idealism and pragmatism was a visit to a refugee camp.

Michal Kašpárek (1984) is a journalist covering politics, economy and new technologies. He has spent most of his career freelancing, publishing online since the late 1990s. From 2003 to 2007 he studied journalism and film studies at Masaryk University. In 2010, Kašpárek started collaborating with Finmag magazine, and has had 400+ book reviews and 300+ columns published. In 2016, he became the copy editor of the magazine and editor-in-chief of the venture’s website. Back in 2012, he published an off the beaten path guide to his home city of Brno. Hry bez hranic (Games without Borders) is his first work of prose fiction.