Prague. April 1, 1911.
Albert is a 32-year-old professor, newly hired to teach theoretical physics at Charles University. Albert has many things on his mind as he enters the city by train. Chief among them are the happiness of his wife and two sons, who did not want to move from Zurich for the sake of his job. There are also money troubles, and the vicious rival determined to destroy his latest theory.
Franz is a 28-year-old insurance salesman, who still lives with his parents in their house in Prague. He dreams of being a writer but has yet to get anything published. Indeed, ignoring a few professional press releases, he has not really written anything.
Within 16 months, both Albert and Franz would change the way we viewed the world. For Albert was Albert Einstein, destined to become the most influential scientist of the 20th century. And Franz was Franz Kafka, whose writings would forever change literature. Two dreamers obsessed with finding the truth, albeit in different disciplines. Two men who, despite living in the same city for 16 months in similar social circles, have not been recorded to have ever spoken. Indeed, apart from one journal entry confirming Kafka attended one of Einstein’s lectures and a suggestion they might have met at the salon of Berta Fanta, there is no record of the two luminaries ever meeting, much less talking shop. But what if they had?
Einstein in Kafkaland is built around this conceit. It is well researched, with more footnotes and asides than a Terry Pratchett novel. However, despite the title, the focus is upon Einstein and his work. Very little of the book details Kafka’s activities at the same time. Indeed, most of Kafka’s appearances in the story are in the form of the Lewis Carroll characters that Ken Krimstein envisions tormenting Einstein as he tries to reconcile the Theory of Relativity with the critiques of his friends and enemies alike.
This is an absurd conceit, but an amusing one to those with the right intellectual mindset. Prague is made up as a Wonderland of sort, full of infectious madness that Einstein just barely escapes. This tone is set early on, as Einstein looks out the window of his new office and marvels at the happy people dancing in a nearby park. He feels quite hopeful about this display in his new home, until it is politely pointed out that the “park” is a sanitarium.
Krimstein’s art is as eclectic as the story. A mixture of sketches and watercolors brings the story to life. There is little constancy between the sketching styles, however, adding to the aura of madness, as Einstein goes down the rabbit hole trying to reimagine reality.
Einstein in Kafkaland is not rated for age by the publisher. The concepts it details mark this book as firmly written for adults, as few outside the arena of academia are likely to find it of interest. Even then, I question how many may find it comprehensible. There is, at least, nothing objectionable in terms of sex or violence. Indeed, there is no mention of sex or violence at all, beyond Einstein and his wife confirming their pacifist beliefs and a brief discussion of the daughter they had out of wedlock and put up for adoption.
Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up with the Universe
By Ken Krimstein
Bloomsbury, 2024
ISBN: 9781635579543
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)
Character Representation: German,
