A snowflake falling on the author’s hand leads to a number of captivating philosophical questions about being, existence and the cosmos.

Essay  |  English sample translation available

At the beginning of this book, the author observes a snowflake drop onto his hand and asks himself about the nature of this minute event. Mostly everyone is familiar with a fallen snowflake, however, sometimes such straightforward occurrences seem mysterious and incomprehensible. Ajvaz presents the argument that even such a simple experience like this can exist only because of its meaning. Said meaning is established by being, and presumes the existence of a dynamic syntax. In his detailed yet accessible writing, he considers why we cannot understand this syntax without seeing it in the entirety of its development. The development is itself part of the development of the cosmos. It is, therefore, necessary to think about the self-creation of the cosmos and to consider organic and inorganic nature, and the human world and its values. It is essential to view these areas of the cosmos in their context and to see their uniqueness.

Michal Ajvaz (1949) is a philosopher, poet, novelist and essayist. After studying at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts he had various manual jobs. In the 1990s he was an editor at the journal Literární noviny, and since 2003 he has worked at the Centre for Theoretical Studies – a joint research institute of Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. Since 1989 his publications have included a book of poetry, Vražda v hotelu Intercontinental (Murder in the Intercontinental Hotel, 1989), books of short stories (e.g. Návrat starého varana [(The Return of the Old Komodo Dragon, 1991)], several novels (e.g. Druhé město, [The Other City, 1993], Zlatý věk [The Golden Age, 2001], Cesta na jih [Voyage to the South, 2008]), philosophical studies (e.g. Kosmos jako sebeutváření [The Cosmos as Self-Creation, 2017]) and books of essays (e.g. Příběh znaků a prázdna [The Story of Signs and Emptiness, 2006]). He is the recipient of the Jaroslav Seifert Award, a Magnesia Litera award and the Prix Utopiales Européen. His books have been translated into twenty-four languages, including English and German.