The Inventor of Eternity

Time of action: 1943. There were seven of them: a professor of entomology, a commercial agent, a mailman, a hairdresser, a medical student, a grocer, and an elderly mannequin-maker. They were accused of murdering a representative of the occupation authorities and taken under arrest with the threat that in a month they would be executed if the real criminal didn’t appear: “They were not placed in prison so they wouldn’t lose their taste for life; instead, they were given a comfortable mansion—outside it was barred and carefully guarded, but inside it was quite cozy.”

“ The Inventor of Eternity” (1976) is a kind philosophical parable about the paradoxes of time and the fleeting nature of life, about courage and cowardice, about betrayal and heroism—filled with gentle sadness and bitter humor.