Karl Schulz (1899-1943) was a poet and critic based primarily in Prague. Though he was an early member of the Czech avant-garde group Devětsil, he was expelled from the Prague chapter in 1924 when he was accused of plagiarizing "The Suicide Club" by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson in one of his own published stories.
The Brno chapter, however, promptly adopted him into their ranks and in this same year "Travel by Train" appeared in their preeminent publication,Pásmo. He experimented with textual-visual innovation towards cinematographic effect throughout the 1920s and then reoriented his prose towards expressing his Catholic faith. He also authored a trilogy dedicated to the Renaissance artist Michelangelo. Schulz died months before his forty-fourth birthday of heart disease. His grandson, Jáchym Topol, is one of the most famous contemporary Czech writers, and has had several of his novels translated into English.
