Upside-down Souls

Another author we would like to introduce to today's readers of dark fiction is the physician Václav Walter (1859–1929), writing under the pseudonym Emil Tréval.

Medicine and both physical and mental disorders play an important role in most of the short stories in this collection—which is hardly surprising, given the author's profession. From literary adaptations of interesting medical stories, Tréval moved on to prose that realistically describes the suffering of the sick, psychological trauma, abnormalities, and various deviant behaviours. Even his relationship stories work with motifs of deformed sexuality and moral ruthlessness. Through his analysis of disturbed personalities, he transitions from naturalism into the realms of decadence and light fantasy. He considered F. M. Dostoevsky and H. Ibsen to be his literary models. The author's fondness for the psychology of morbidity and his ability to depict, in colourful and imaginative language, the fates of strong individuals whose ambitions end in heavy blows of fate, evoke a certain similarity to the later works of Jaroslav Havlíček.

This volume is not a relaxing collection of ghost stories to be read by the fireplace. We therefore recommend that you dose its contents judiciously and with consideration.

Compiled and provided with an expert afterword by Petr Boček.