Ebook270 pages3 hours
The House of a Thousand Floors
By Jan Weiss
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
The House of a Thousand Floors is one of the earliest science-fiction novels in European literature, published first in 1929. Besides being a pioneer in its genre, the book is highly regarded for its general merits as psychological literature.
The novel tells the story of a dream in fever of a soldier wounded in World War I. He finds himself in the stairway of a gigantic (and kafkaesque) tower-like building, which is a metaphor for modern society. He learns that his task is to rescue Princess Tamara from Muller, the lord of the edifice. After a number of surrealistic encounters in the building, during which he is hailed as a liberator by many and is hunted by the cruel security guards, the main character finds Tamara and faces the cruel lord of Mullerdom.
The novel makes fine use of a range of experimental styles and techniques. At times, linear storytelling gives way to a collage of incongruous elements: excerpts from fictitious books, encyclopedia articles, radio broadcast transcripts are used as a shortcut to describe places or events; other narrative ingredients include fanciful advertisements, ludicrous administrative documents or political slogans which highlight the idiosyncrasies of this decadent world.
The novel tells the story of a dream in fever of a soldier wounded in World War I. He finds himself in the stairway of a gigantic (and kafkaesque) tower-like building, which is a metaphor for modern society. He learns that his task is to rescue Princess Tamara from Muller, the lord of the edifice. After a number of surrealistic encounters in the building, during which he is hailed as a liberator by many and is hunted by the cruel security guards, the main character finds Tamara and faces the cruel lord of Mullerdom.
The novel makes fine use of a range of experimental styles and techniques. At times, linear storytelling gives way to a collage of incongruous elements: excerpts from fictitious books, encyclopedia articles, radio broadcast transcripts are used as a shortcut to describe places or events; other narrative ingredients include fanciful advertisements, ludicrous administrative documents or political slogans which highlight the idiosyncrasies of this decadent world.
Author
Jan Weiss
Jan Weiss (1892–1972) was one of the founders of Czech science fiction
Related to The House of a Thousand Floors
Related ebooks
Whitehorn's Windmill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Chestnut Horses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poet and the Idiot Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Storm Blew In From Paradise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nelycinda and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDharma Boards - Manifesto Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Punch Magazine Anthology of New Writing: Select Short Stories by Women Writers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReady Reference Treatise: Snow Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHe Is Honey, Salt and the Most Perfect Grammar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Through The Sad Wood Our Corpses Will Hang Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreaking Free: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Bad Lot: Collected Short Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPersian Tales - Volume II - Bakhti R Tales - Illustrated by Hilda Roberts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiterature Companion: Dangerous Liaisons Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blessed Rita: the new novel from the bestselling Booker International longlisted Dutch author Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStory Bag, The Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Purchased Bride Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMYTHS and folktales African Stories from the Jieng South Sudan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Simple Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoulhound and Fancyman: A Rucksack Universe Story: Rucksack Universe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTriomf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51914 and Other Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis Other Salt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagic Needles Magic Knife Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoetry Book Society Winter 2018 Bulletin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWoman to Woman: Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLalla Rookh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeorgian Folk Tales: [Illustrated] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Night with a Black Spider: Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStrange Fires Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Fiction For You
The Handmaid's Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Birds: Erotica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Who Have Never Known Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tender Is the Flesh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Thinking of Ending Things: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nigerwife: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anna Karenina: Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Woman in the Room: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Queen's Gambit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The House of a Thousand Floors
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The House of a Thousand Floors - Jan Weiss
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1