Patient XY

In December 1945, a pacifist coup took place in Prague that no one noticed. Its architect, Prague physician Jan Lukeš, was detained and hospitalized for his desire to disarm the entire world. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

In 1956, Professor Jaroslav Stuchlík publishes an article about his patient XY, who created 16 artificial languages. The surprise was twofold: after years, a legend of psychiatry spoke again, from whom no one expected anything more, and moreover, no schizophrenic patient had ever created such an extensive linguistic system.

That patient was none other than Doctor Lukeš - a dreamer who could not sleep, a linguist proposing complicated systems so that people could understand each other better, a genius mixing high with low so that his operas led to the destruction of theatre buildings and his love poetry to pornography. Many of his works have not survived, many of his inventions did not work.

However, part of the correspondence between Doctor Lukeš and Professor Stuchlík has survived. Explosive, touching, cruel and entertaining letters offer a glimpse into a remarkable relationship where it is unclear who has the upper hand and who needs whom. One thing is certain: the creations of that psychopathic "wunderkind" (as Lukeš called himself) remain fascinating.