Blaugast: A Novel Of Decline

Blaugast is the story of ruin. A bored clerk, Klaudius Blaugast, pursues his desires down a path that spirals into complete degradation. Homeless and destitute, having lost everything to an evil prostitute, Wanda, he seeks redemption in a Prague that has become alien to him. Flashbacks and hallucinations point to the seeds of his eventual downfall. Unpublished during Leppins lifetime, Blaugast ranks with Severins Journey into the Dark for its portrayal of eroticism in a city that has become sybaritic and uncaring. Written in the 1930s as the Nazis were coming to power, it is also an indictment of the despotic, vulgar times and an exploration of sadistic tendencies. based on the original typescript housed in the Museum of Czech Literature in Prague