Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up with the Universe

Bending real history into a fantastical tale of two young thinkers in pursuit of “the true truth,” this playful graphic novel by New Yorker cartoonist Krimstein (When I Grow Up) takes as its starting point a 1911 salon hosted by Berta Fanta at Prague’s White Unicorn Pharmacy, which Franz Kafka and Albert Einstein both attended. Riffing on Alice in Wonderland, Krimstein takes readers through the looking glass to follow Einstein’s attempt to come up with an equation to explain his theory of relativity, imagining conversations between the theoretical physicist and the writer, who was “terminally single” and “still living at home with his parents.” Characters float through watercolor dreamscapes in moody teals and tans, conveying how kooky and poetic the concept of a four-dimensional universe was and is: “Everything curls around everything else, time and space merge into a stew that can only be called space-time.” Defying the Euclidean status quo requires a leap of faith that occurs when art and science merge, Krimstein suggests­—or, in the words of a crescent moon with Kafka’s face, “Who says Euclid’s story is the only story?” Irreverent yet full of tenderness for its subjects, Krimstein’s experiment is a dizzying delight. Agent: Jennifer Lyons, Jennifer Lyons Literary. (Aug.)