Others' Paradise: Tales of Old Prague

By Paul Leppin and Stephanie Howard

Book Overview

Toward the end of his life Leppin wrote: "Prague remains my deepest experience. Its conflict, its mystery, its rat-catcher's beauty have ever provided my poetic efforts with new inspiration and meaning." Others' Paradise represents one of the most intense expressions of this experience. Beginning with the highly imagistic "The Doors of Life," the eight stories contained in this volume detail the contours of the lives and visions of a collection of Prague inhabitants, from a prostitute bound to the decay of the old Jewish quarter, to a man caught in the memory of a lost love, and a shoemaker whose knowledge of the world has been constricted to the view from the window of his cellar workroom. Amidst their differing circumstances what these characters share is an intense desire for lasting human contact and the fated disappointment of all such aspirations. Binding their personal histories, woven into their most intimate details, is Prague itself, the city whose nature, mythical and yet all-too-real, gives shape and force to their desires while simultaneously determining their frustrations.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 808626453X
• ISBN13: 9788086264530
• Release Date: December 2016
• Publisher: Twisted Spoon Press
• Length: 134 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

The Dark Side of Decadence: Short Stories of Death and Hopelessness

Paul Leppin (1878-1945) is best known for his short novel, Severin's Journey into the Dark (A Prague Ghost Story), a grim tale of one man's psychological turmoil and inability to find contentedness even when he's happy. I've read "Severin's Journey..." but I find this anthology of eight short stories showcasing Leppin at his best; there is a greater wealth of profundity and pessimism in these stories. I would suggest that any reader new to Leppin start here. Not all of the short stories are great and one did leave me disappointed, but most of them are powerful albeit bleak vignettes. Leppin is a truly underrated decadent writer who eschews the erotic in favor of death, misery, and decay. Sex is present in his works, but with the exception of some scenes in the "The Wonderdoll," Leppin's descriptions are subtle and should not titillate or offend anyone. What I find so great about these short stories is Leppin's somber atmosphere and evocation of a melancholy Prague. Leppin's stories are grounded in murky and decrepit settings: gloomy streets barely illuminated by streetlamps, moonlit nights of isolation, dark confined spaces fit for brooding. Every protagonist in these stories is ultimately a victim of their own desires. They yearn for something but either cannot achieve it or hold onto it. Ultimately, they are subjected to a tragic end; either madness, death, or hopelessness defeats them. Without spoiling too much, the following is a synopsis of each story with occasional commentary on my part: The Wonderdoll - This is my favorite work of Leppin's and, in my opinion, the best work of this anthology. It's such a moving and perverted story that contrasts horrific scenes with romantic love: a young boy falls in love with a life-sized wax doll of a beautiful woman who actually reciprocates his feelings and magically comes to life. There is a touch of horror in this story that is uncharacteristic for Leppin. One disturbing scene is worth excerpting: "Curious things stood grouped next to one another: severed heads and hands with long white fingers... On a yellow hide on the ground there lay a man who rolled his eyes frightfully - he was naked and his chest had been ripped open so that his heart could be seen... The instruments of torture dug into their ashen skin and contorted their mouths into grinning madness." Clearly, this is no innocuous fairytale. At one point, the boy lustfully kisses the doll's breast, after which the doll becomes animated and returns the affection. Beyond this hint of necrophilia, the subject is even more shocking because of the boy's age: it is never explicitly revealed, but Leppin describes the boy's age in such a way that he must not even be a teenager yet. The ending is dark and unsettling. Others' Paradise - An angst-ridden tale of an antisocial shoemaker condemned to a life of monotonous work. His only view of the world outside is through his shop's window. Since his shop is below ground-level of the city streets,