The Prophecy

The audiobook *The Prediction* is a novella by the Austrian writer and physician Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931). His medical education largely determined the distinctive themes of Schnitzler’s works. Turning to writing, he explored the inner world of a person, the dark sides of existence and the human soul; he tried to reveal hidden, unconscious impulses and motives behind characters’ actions. The writer was actively interested in the problems of hypnosis and dreams, and after becoming acquainted with the concept of psychoanalysis, he illustrated and creatively reworked some aspects of Sigmund Freud’s theory in his own works.

…Once, the mysterious magician Marco-Polo predicted the fate of Franz von Umpretch by showing him a vision from his future life—a scene that would happen exactly ten years later. For all ten years, Umpretch tries to avoid fulfilling this prophecy and to escape the looming danger—but with each passing day he feels increasingly powerless in the face of fate’s inevitability…