Richard Weiner was a Czech journalist and writer. He is generally considered to be one of the most important Czech writers of the twentieth century, since he influenced many of his own and later generations of writers. Yet he is little known outside the Czech Republic. Because of his enigmatic writings he has often been likened to Franz Kafka, although mutual influences can be ruled out with near certainty. He has been called "the poet of anxiety", others spoke of him as "the Odd-man out" of Czech literature. His contemporary Karel Čapek named him "the man of pain." -- Wikipedia