Karel Capek - A Fábrica do Absoluto

When, on the path of progress, the world witnesses the discovery of a device capable of producing unlimited energy for next to nothing, few would have guessed that this modern marvel would have a serious side effect: the liberation of the unsettling Absolute, the spiritual essence contained in matter, which transforms all beings—from the most mundane to the most frivolous—into fervent religious fanatics.

Quickly, the planet is gripped by an epidemic of religiosity and sees its population transformed into multitudes of believers, who sometimes perform miracles, sometimes preach love for their neighbor, and who, soon, want to convert neighboring nations to their truth by all means, indisputably the supreme and best, unleashing an inevitable global war.

The novel *The Factory of the Absolute* (1922), a brilliant and prescient satire that hasn't aged a day, is now published in a direct translation from Czech, with drawings by Josef Capek (1887-1945), the author's brother, taken from the original edition.