Hey, it's Ampire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. There's something I find beautiful about

artistic scenes, whether it's the literary scene of 1920s Paris or the 1970s downtown New York art scene

or the various hardcore punk scenes that sprouted up from DC to L.A. It's interesting to think of artists and thinkers of different

media bouncing around each other, gabbing, shooting the breeze, and drawing inspiration from all of that.

And apparently, there was a bit of a scene in Prague, 1911. Kafka was there, and so was Albert Einstein.

And what their meetings could have been like is the subject of today's book.

It's a graphic novel by Ken Crimstein titled Einstein and Kafka Land,

how Albert fell down the rabbit hole and came up with the universe.

And in this interview with NPR Scott Simon, Ken talks about what drew this scene to Prague

in the first place.

That's ahead.

Einstein and Kafka, the genius who developed the theory of relativity and a literary genius

whose very name has become a term to describe a world in the grip of its own absurdity.

Turns out they both lived in Prague at the same time and met the same circle of friends for strong tea, the music of Mozart, and illuminating talk.

Ken Grimstein, the cartoonist, including for the New Yorker and Punch and biographer, is a new graphic novel that tries to show how the two giants of the 20th century might have been influenced by

being in the same orbit of Prague's intellectual life in 1911 and 1912. Einstein and Kofka land,

how Albert fell down the rabbit hole and came up with the universe. Ken Crimstein joins us now

from Evanston, Illinois. Thanks so much for being with us.

Well, thanks a lot for having me this day.

How much is history?

How much is your artistic imagination?

A hundred percent of each, I'm afraid.

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