This pioneering monograph presents the poet Jiří Volf (1947–1993) in the context of Czech literature and reconstructs his life and work based on a unique combination of archival materials, surviving manuscripts, and eyewitness accounts. Anna Luňáková’s almost detective-like investigation traces his departure into exile in 1968, his involvement in alternative literary circles in Toulouse, the difficult circumstances of his life, and his untimely death. The volume includes an extensive selection of the author’s texts, translated from French and published in Czech for the very first time. The book offers not only a compelling portrait of the “Rimbaud of the East,” but also a reflection on the very process of writing about life and work on the border between fact and fiction, between history and memory.