Tomas Ryal

Tomas Ryal (1900-1973) is a fictional character from Sam Taylor's novel "The Amnesiac" (2003). [Citation
last =Lichtig
first =Toby
title =Enter a beautifully perplexing world
newspaper = The Daily Telegraph
date = 2007-03-11
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/03/11/botay03.xml
accessdate = 2008-05-31] According to the book he was a Czech philosopher, playwright and poet, famous for his controversial repudiation of the existence of memory, and also for the mysterious manner of his death. It is assumed that he was pupil of a famous Czech pedagogist, philosopher and inventor Jára da Cimrman.

Born near Prague, Ryal moved to Berlin at the age of 18, where he studied Philosophy. For five years, he was arts correspondent for German newspaper Die Zeit, before being sacked (apparently for drunkenness) in 1927. He travelled around Europe before finally settling in Devon, England, where he began writing and publishing books, most notably the solipsistic meditation, "Solitude" (1934). In 1936 he moved to Pau, France, and later fought in the French Resistance during World War Two.

It was not until 1960, however, when Ryal was 'rediscovered' by psychologist and author Felice Berger that his work became known again. He lived the last ten years of his life in Austria, where he wrote six books, including his controversial thesis about memory, "On the Impossibility of Remembering", and a book of existential epigrams influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and William Blake, entitled "Hell".

The exact date and cause of Ryal's death is unknown. He disappeared in August 1970, and his remains were not found until three years later.

References

External links

* [http://www.encyclopedia-labyrinthus.com/ryal.htm Tomas Ryal's life story at the Encyclopedia Labyrinthus]