The intensity with which Filip Topol performs and the poetry of his song lyrics are also reflected in his prose work, and this is especially true of the novella The Trip to Corsica (1999), for which he was awarded the prize for the best prose work of that year by the Czech Literature Fund.

He himself said: ‘Am 13 is a diary, about that period. The Trip to Corsica cost me more, and if I may say it bluntly: I almost died then, I underwent an operation on my pancreas… That made me think about that trip. I also had a character in my head, from a song, which was my alter ego, an unhappy guy, self-destructive, who didn’t expect much more from the world. But as life took a turn, a new, constructive character was born, David Diamond, rather an explorer of life, a seeker… and from that followed a kind of contemplation… about life, ha ha (…) There are two expressions: being alone and loneliness. I see being alone as something very positive, in the sense of not being constantly exposed to the pressure of all that chatter around you. I think being alone is a good thing. And loneliness also has something, but then you find yourself already a lot deeper. Only real strong personalities can handle that, as it is a lot worse. I tried to define it so succinctly as that loneliness, or also that being alone, is a pretty miserable evening, but thank God for the morning after. It’s not tragic, it’s rather a reconciliation with yourself.’

“In the case of ‘Of Karel Klenotník’s trip to Corsica’, we slowly emerge from the linguistic fog on the chairlift. Rays of metaphors or personifications flash at us from the breaking clouds. The story of Karel Klenotnik, who escapes to Corsica from his everyday worries and problems, is illuminated by metaphors, personifications or similes. The living fan that suddenly communicates with Karl, the creeping depression that comes at the protagonist from all sides. The reader immediately thinks of the fundamental question, is this prose or poetry?”

— iLiteratura

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