Josef Kyselak, an almost exact contemporary of Schubert, was the Austrian Kilroy. He wrote his name in all kinds of places — cliffs, caves, buildings, bridges — throughout the Austrian Empire, becoming a legend in his own lifetime, until ordered to stop by the Emperor.

He was also one of the first backpackers, going on expeditions by himself, into the wild country and the high Alps.

Kyselak Was Here is a fictional account of his life as it might have been, following its youthful hero on his adventures, amorous and otherwise, from Vienna to the four corners of the Empire: the Vienna Woods, Bohemia, Slovenia, Transylvania. At the same time it paints a picture of Biedermeier Austria, the age of Schubert, a great period of Austrian music and theatre, but also of Metternich and his secret police.

The Author: Michael Robin is a distinguished literary translator with a special interest in Austrian culture. Kyselak Was Here is his first novel.