A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO ANNELIESE

An expansive, self-aware novel about human connection.

Elkins continues the story of Samuel Emmer, begun in Weak in Comparison to Dreams (2023), with another formally inventive work of fiction. The novel opens with Emmer meeting Anneliese Glur, an academic, and her brother, Paul, during a visit to Frankfurt. Quickly, Anneliese establishes herself as an original thinker who has a way with words, as when she compares the use of language to wearing uncomfortable clothing: “Language has forced me to make fun of myself, my idea is wrapped around me like this suit.” The first two-thirds of this novel recounts a few heady conversations that Samuel and Anneliese have over the following months, which soon reveal that Anneliese has a penchant for speaking in very long sentences. There’s an element of humor to this, as when Samuel is desperate to end their conversation so that he can make a flight and Anneliese makes epic point after epic point. There’s an element of absurdism, too, whether Anneliese is discussing the lives of ticks or deconstructing the opening credits of Psycho. And when Anneliese goes on a long tear about very long books—something she dubs “Long Novel Insanity”—it feels like a knowing wink to the reader. Late in the novel, Samuel learns of Anneliese’s death and receives her notebooks, and what had been absurdist turns elegiac. As Samuel (and the reader) make their way through those notebooks, an element of sadness that had been below the surface comes into view. Eventually, Samuel takes on a newfound appreciation for Anneliese’s life’s work: “This was a universe, not a book.”

Readers who appreciate formal invention and wry humor will find much to savor here.