THE COLLECTED STORIES OF WOLFGANG HILDESHEIMER

by Wolfgang Hildesheimer ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1987

First English-language appearance for 19 stories, most of them very short, by the witty, whimsical author of a controversial Mozart biography (1982) and four novels, including Marbot: A Biography (1983). Like Marbot, which offered mock-serious scholarship regarding an imaginary 19th-century art critic, many of the pieces here take the form of literary/academic parodies, with provocative views of culture emerging indirectly, but effectively. ""I Am Not Writing a Book on Kafka"" satirizes the little world of biographical scholars, clinging like parasites to their chosen subjects. ""1956--A Pilz Year"" pays hilarious centenary tribute, complete with footnotes, to one Gottlieb Theodore Pilz, little-known apostle of sloth (""the pioneer of sitting in the sun""), whose contribution to Western civilization ""was expressed in the non-existence of works which never came into being thanks to his courageous, self-sacrificing interference."" (In 1836, for instance, ""at the height of his powers,"" he ""managed to talk Delacroix out of painting a series of colossal pictures of various jungle scenes."") Several stories explore the notion of a self-divided artist: in ""Portrait of a Poet,"" it is revealed that Nobel-winning poet Sylvan Hardemuth was really literary critic Alphons Schwerdt, who wrote all those pseudonymous poems--intentionally awful, crassly derivative--in order to give himself a target for scathing, witty reviews; and one very Woody Allenish entry tells of the famous pianist who's secretly a frustrated insurance agent (""a double talent of unwonted proportions""). When not playing these fetching games with cultural conventions, Hildesheimer tends toward the existential fable, often with surreal touches reminiscent of (among others) Donald Barthelme. One man, desperate for solitude (a recurring theme throughout the collection), turns himself into a nightingale; another builds himself a tiny apartment many stories up, virtually in thin air--a doomed experiment in sell-sufficiency. A few stories become impenetrably abstract: ""The Gruel on Our Stove"" is a murky attempt at political parable; ""Sleep"" is a bewildering, if undeniably creepy, vision of three guardian angels--the Mona Lisa, Mary Stuart, and a fat nun--hovering over the dozing narrator. And the longest entry, ""Missives to Max,"" is a catchall gathering of free-associative musings on literature, psychology, philosophy, food, drink, death--sometimes striking, sometimes not (especially when indulging in wordplay á la Cabrera Infante). But readers with a taste for cross-cultural drollery and dark whimsy will find this an impressive performance, with Hildesheimer (also a painter) in full command of both comic phrasing and vivid imagery.

Pub Date: May 1, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Ecco-dist. by Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION