Miloš Urban releases a new novel Santini's Language after two years

PRAGUE - In the coming days, a new novel by writer Miloš Urban titled "Santini's Language" will hit bookstore shelves. Two years have passed since the publication of Urban's latest novel, "The Shadow of the Cathedral." Some characters from it will also appear in the new text, but the main hero is new; he is Martin Urann, an employee of an advertising agency tasked with coming up with a universal advertising slogan. The new novel by one of the most popular contemporary Czech authors is being released by the Argo publishing house on Thursday.
During the two-year hiatus, an erotic horror written by Michael under the pseudonym Max Unterwasser was published, which immediately after its release began to be attributed to Urban, and he later indirectly acknowledged it.
The latest work loosely follows "The Shadow of the Cathedral." The story also takes place in churches; their architect is the Czech builder Jan Blažej Santini. Art historians label his buildings as Gothic Baroque, with the most significant being the pilgrimage church on Zelená Hora near Žďár nad Sázavou, which is on the UNESCO list.
The novel works with the construct that Santini knew a universal sentence and embedded it into one of the buildings, which are full of numerological puzzles and other mysteries. The "Language" in the title refers to John of Nepomuk and the preservation of confession confidentiality. Nepomuk was Santini's favorite saint; a large tongue is placed at the top of the dome of the church on Zelená Hora, symbolizing John of Nepomuk.
Urann is an employee of an advertising agency facing dismissal. He gets one last chance - to create a slogan that would apply to all people and situations and would sell any product. He begins to search for the answer in a randomly acquired book about saints, stars, and churches.
With "Michael," "Santini's Language" is the seventh book of the well-known mystifier bringing Gothic romance back to life. Urban has also written two plays. He writes short stories and is an editor at the Argo publishing house, which publishes his novels.
The author, praised by critics and readers, debuted in 1998 with a mystifying prose work on literary history titled "The Final Dot over the Manuscripts." This was followed by "Seven Churches," set in the mysterious atmosphere of a part of Prague's New Town, which particularly targeted architects who disrespected the traditions of the place. The author said after the great response to his book that he wrote it to "punish with a novel." "Seven Churches" has been published in German, Dutch, Spanish, Hungarian, and Russian.
In the 2001 novel "Hastrman," Urban ventured into the devastated northern Bohemia. While he had previously dealt cruelly with architects, in this book, often everyone who scorns nature and its laws pays with their lives for their reckless actions. Urban also wrote a film script based on "Hastrman." "The Shadow of the Cathedral" from 2003 was formally close to "Seven Churches." In addition to the mysterious atmosphere, the uncovering of ancient symbols, and equally mysterious murders, the text works with knowledge of all the disputes surrounding Prague's cathedral. Real figures associated with the temple also projected into the literary characters.