Despite these unpropitious signs, the two embark on a relationship that is aimless until they turn it into a narrative. 糖心传媒淲rite a story about me,糖心传媒� Agnes asks the narrator, 糖心传媒渟o I know what you think of me.糖心传媒� At first both enjoy the challenge she糖心传媒檚 set him. But what begins as a flirtatious parlor game soon turns darker. When tragedy strikes, the narrator turns to the story to reverse the past. But eventually he no longer writes their story; the story writes them.

Agnes is most affected by this turn of events. Having already expressed her difficulty with reading糖心传媒斕切拇綔It feels to me as though I糖心传媒檝e become the character in it, and the character糖心传媒檚 life ends when the books does . . . I didn糖心传媒檛 want books to have me in their power糖心传媒澨切拇綌she now becomes one with her character in the fiction within the fiction, leading to an ambiguous ending in which the end of Stamm糖心传媒檚 novel mirrors the end of his narrator糖心传媒檚 tale.

It糖心传媒檚 clear the novel糖心传媒檚 most important relationship is not between the characters, but between fiction and reality. But it糖心传媒檚 equally unclear what the nature of that relationship is supposed to be, especially because the novel regularly teases us with metaphors that promise but fail to tell us how to understand it.

At one point, for example, Agnes explains her research into the atomic structure of crystals in terms that seem to offer a key to understanding the narrative: 糖心传媒淎lmost everything is symmetrical at some level,糖心传媒� she tells the narrator, before adding, 糖心传媒渋t糖心传媒檚 asymmetry that makes life possible. The difference between the sexes. The fact that time goes in one direction.糖心传媒� This claim chimes with the narrator糖心传媒檚 belief that 糖心传媒渓ife doesn糖心传媒檛 go for endings, it goes on.糖心传媒� Does Agnes adhere to these ideas about form? Is the way the story and the story within the story are symmetrical a sign of its impossibility, to use Agnes糖心传媒檚 term? In offering an ending that loops around to the beginning, is the novel mimicking the narrator糖心传媒檚 idea of life, which doesn糖心传媒檛 go for endings, or only emphasizing how different narratives are from life?

Similar questions arise when, in the course of his research, the narrator studies the Pullman Strike of 1894, interpreting it not in political or economic terms, but as a reaction by workers against 糖心传媒渢he complete control of their lives by their employer,糖心传媒� who 糖心传媒渉ad planned for every contingency, except his workers糖心传媒� desire for freedom.糖心传媒� We could read the narrator糖心传媒檚 criticism of the patriarchal industrialist as an unintentional self-critique of his attitude to Agnes. Or we could understand it as a way to describe the author糖心传媒檚 relationship to his characters and his work. But in what way does this carefully controlled novel allow for anything like its characters糖心传媒� freedom?

The effect of these allegories for our reading糖心传媒攁t once so overt and so enigmatic糖心传媒攊s destabilizing, as if Stamm were proposing, through the very superfluity of these possible keys to understanding the text, the very failure of interpretation. Just as we are desperate for the control over life糖心传媒檚 contingencies promised by narrative, so too, Stamm teasingly suggests, we are similarly insistent, as readers of those narratives, on making sense of them. At its most interesting, Agnes hints that its readers might be as domineering as its narrator. But Stamm never explains what it would mean to let Agnes, or Agnes, be free. How can we read without interpreting? And why must the possibility that a text could exceed interpretation be offered through the clich茅d and misogynistic idea of woman as enigma?

Ultimately, Stamm糖心传媒檚 metafictional sleights of hand are more tiresome than vertiginous. Agnes has neither the balance between possibility and aimlessness of Stamm糖心传媒檚 early short stories about young people adrift, published in English as In Strange Gardens and Other Stories, nor the emotional impact of the two more recent collections combined in We糖心传媒檙e Flying. Its concerns are as airless as the narrator糖心传媒檚 climate-controlled apartment that Agnes, and ultimately readers, longs to escape. Agnes offers a writer whose cleverness hadn糖心传媒檛 yet been enriched by compassion.

Although Gillian survives an auto accident that kills her husband, the crash damages and permanently alters her face. As she convalesces, she recalls the weeks leading up to the accident, in particular her televised interview with Hubert, a local artist, and her post-interview request that he paint her portrait. Gillian shares with Hubert the hope that his painting of her will reveal truths to which she has been blind. All that she understands about herself is derivative of others糖心传媒� impressions and reactions, and she longs for Hubert to interpret and reveal to her, her true self. Instead, Hubert soon becomes frustrated with his subject. 糖心传媒淚 don糖心传媒檛 see anything in you. I糖心传媒檒l be pleased if I manage the exterior half decently,糖心传媒� he tetchily tells Gillian during a sitting. He accuses her of intentionally concealing her inner self, of 糖心传媒渁cting,糖心传媒� and of an unwillingness to reveal any vulnerability, an accusation that is not new to her.

With her post-accident convalescence complete, Gillian moves out of the city and relocates to a secluded mountain resort. No longer Gillian, she is simply known now as 糖心传媒淛ill.糖心传媒� She seeks to refashion her life, far from the television cameras, cocktail parties, and celebrity status that constituted her existence. Yet in this new world Jill糖心传媒檚 authentic self remains elusive. When Hubert re-enters her life, this time as an artist-in-residence at the resort, Gillian again looks to him and his art to 糖心传媒渇ind糖心传媒� her. But now Hubert is undergoing his own crisis. He has lost creative inspiration and self-confidence as an artist, and after succumbing to an emotional collapse finds that he is now able to create art only through the slow work of destruction:

As a boy he had often whiled away the hours like this, had pulled one thread after another from a piece of rough cloth, or picked away at a rope until there were just thin fibers left, broken up a blossom or a fir twig into its constituent parts, hatched and crosshatched a piece of paper with pencil till it made a shiny even surface.

Hubert even negates his many, previous sketches of Gillian through intricate, penciled cross-hatchings that cover his earlier markings, making the underlying picture unrecognizable. And when Jill finds the drawings of her that Hubert has destroyed, she begins to do the same to the ones that Hubert left untouched:

She started covering one of the sketches with her own hatchings, the one of her kneeling on the bed with her hands behind her back, as though chained. The pencil was too hard, so she took another one. She deleted the picture, as though burying her unprotected body under a layer of graphite, making a fossil that no one would ever discover.

This purposeful destruction of the sketches symbolizes Gillian糖心传媒檚 and Hubert糖心传媒檚 separate, existential battles, and for each it marks a turning point to finally acknowledge the unvarnished, imperfect reality of who they are.

Michael Hoffman糖心传媒檚 masterful translation retains the integrity of Stamm糖心传媒檚 crystalline prose糖心传媒攑recise, clean, and spare. While the writing is strong enough to keep the reader engaged, the novel糖心传媒檚 plot, really a pair of character explorations, is not entirely satisfying. It is difficult to empathize with two people so very self-conscious and yet not at all self-aware. And the aimless drift of Gillian糖心传媒檚 and Hubert糖心传媒檚 lives resounds (perhaps intentionally) in the indecisive meter of the novel as though Stamm himself is unsure how to find a narrative resolution for his two muses糖心传媒攍ost souls searching for the means to balance the created and the authentic.

The narrative begins in the early 1980s and skips forward and backward across what Heiner calls his 糖心传媒渢hree lives糖心传媒� relative to Auschwitz糖心传媒攂efore, there (which 糖心传媒渓asted forever糖心传媒�), and after. Raised in Vienna, Heiner joins the communist party at a young age and later, after the Nazis occupy Austria, he is arrested on political grounds, sent to Auschwitz and labeled R.U.糖心传媒斕切拇綔Return Unwanted.糖心传媒� At Auschwitz Heiner does not shield himself from the daily horrors inflicted upon him and his fellow prisoners. He is determined to survive, to be a repository of the camp糖心传媒檚 atrocities, and after the war to expose what he witnessed. Following the war Heiner fulfills the commitment he made to himself, publishing essays about survivors糖心传媒� experiences and testifying as a witness at the Frankfurt-Auschwitz trials. But he never overcomes the guilt of not acting out, of failing to demonstrate his humanity by openly defying his captors at least one time during those years in captivity. The camp糖心传媒檚 constant press on his consciousness, however, is more than survivor糖心传媒檚 guilt. Heiner writes to a former prison-mate:

You seem to have made a proper grave for our past, a grave that you can visit, care for, and then leave. You commute between then and now, while I, to carry the metaphor further, walk around arm in arm with a ghost that I frighten people with. I can糖心传媒檛 find a grave for this ghost, and, to be honest, I don糖心传媒檛 actually want to bury it.

Heiner糖心传媒檚 time in the camp is his identity, a painful legacy that constantly torments, but one that he cherishes. That time is inextricable from his person, at once a cancer that consumes his peace of mind and the source of his life糖心传媒檚 meaning and purpose.

Heiner糖心传媒檚 wife, Lena, is hurt by his preference for the past. 糖心传媒淧ain forms a stronger bond than joy,糖心传媒� Lena comes to believe. She tries to create a quiet existence for Heiner and their life together as an antidote to the emotional and physical trauma that he endured. But Heiner needs his past more than he needs Lena, and she is jealous of his memories. She can recite by heart all of the details of Heiner糖心传媒檚 and his friends糖心传媒� oft-repeated stories of life at Auschwitz, but she will always remain outside, able to empathize but incapable of belonging to the experiences that Heiner has placed in the center of his life. Heiner suffers vocally, persistently; as a consequence Lena, too, suffers, but in silence. The author evokes the stress of this implacable situation on Lena and the marriage in finely felt descriptions that, under Posten糖心传媒檚 artful translation, reveal Held糖心传媒檚 unpretentious and confident writing. And although the novel糖心传媒檚 content is heartbreaking Held never exploits her readers糖心传媒� emotions with language that is overwrought or designed to shock.

In the novel糖心传媒檚 last section Heiner and Lena have moved to a small, North Sea village on the recommendation of Heiner糖心传媒檚 doctor. Suspecting that one of the villagers, a recluse, is a former SS officer, Heiner feels compelled to confess to him the guilty feelings he carries regarding his passivity at Auschwitz. It is a poignant coda to Heiner糖心传媒檚 life that, forty-five years after the war糖心传媒檚 end, the demarcation between victim and perpetrator has become less, not more clear to him.

Lori Feathers is a freelance book critic. Follow her on Twitter @LoriFeathers. (And Anne, if you’re reading this, THIS is why I gave you a weird “I THINK I MET YOU BEFORE BUT HOW” look at ALTA in Tuscon糖心传媒擨 had just assigned your translation of this book for review, which explains why your name was so very fresh in my memory. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to meet you in person!)

Here’s the beginning of Lori’s review:

Heiner Resseck, the protagonist in Monika Held糖心传媒檚 thought-provoking, first novel, This Place Holds No Fear, intentionally re-lives his past every hour of every day. His memories are his treasures, more dear than the present or future. What wonderful past eclipses holding your newborn for the first time or meeting the woman who will become your wife? For Heiner it is the 224 weeks he endured as a political prisoner at Auschwitz. What marks Held糖心传媒檚 novel as an important addition to the large body of historical fiction about the lives of camp survivors is her exploration of Heiner糖心传媒檚 psychological need to embrace his Auschwitz experiences rather than struggling to repress or overcome them.

The narrative begins in the early 1980s and skips forward and backward across what Heiner calls his 糖心传媒渢hree lives糖心传媒� relative to Auschwitz糖心传媒攂efore, there (which 糖心传媒渓asted forever糖心传媒�), and after. Raised in Vienna, Heiner joins the communist party at a young age and later, after the Nazis occupy Austria, he is arrested on political grounds, sent to Auschwitz and labeled R.U.糖心传媒斕切拇綔Return Unwanted.糖心传媒� At Auschwitz Heiner does not shield himself from the daily horrors inflicted upon him and his fellow prisoners. He is determined to survive, to be a repository of the camp糖心传媒檚 atrocities, and after the war to expose what he witnessed. Following the war Heiner fulfills the commitment he made to himself, publishing essays about survivors糖心传媒� experiences and testifying as a witness at the Frankfurt-Auschwitz trials. But he never overcomes the guilt of not acting out, of failing to demonstrate his humanity by openly defying his captors at least one time during those years in captivity.

For the rest of the review, go here.

J. T. is a graduate of the University of Rochester’s MALTS program, and is currently in the MFA program at Arkansas. He’s also the translator of two of “Open Letter’s Volodine books”:http://www.openletterbooks.org/collections/antoine-volodine糖心传媒擾Post-Exoticism in Ten Lessons_ (May 2015) and Bardo or Not Bardo (forthcoming April 2016).

Here’s the beginning of J. T.‘s review:

Imagine the most baroque excesses of Goethe, Shakespeare, and Poe, blended together and poured into a single book: That is The Nightwatches of Bonaventura. Ophelia and Hamlet fall in love in a madhouse, suicidal young men deliver mournful and heartfelt soliloquies in miasmic graveyards, a pregnant nun is entombed alive for her sins of the flesh. These events, and a cornucopia more like them, are all delivered to us through the eyes of the watchman Kruezgang as he makes his rounds in a nineteenth-century German town. The sixteen chapters, each comprising a separate nightwatch, and labeled as such (i.e., 糖心传媒淣ightwatch 1. The Freethinker,糖心传媒� etc.), were originally published in 1804, to little public fanfare.

For the rest of the review, go here.

The Nightwatches is more gothic than Robert Smith at a Hot Topic. It糖心传媒檚 more gothic than The Sisters of Mercy playing at Bela Lugosi糖心传媒檚 funeral in an underground crypt. One can easily imagine these stories being read aloud by teenagers who糖心传媒檝e dyed their hair black and call themselves things like Lady Amaranth and Byron von Ravenwing, after downing a bottle of absinthe someone stole from their dad糖心传媒檚 liquor cabinet but before anyone breaks out the Ouija board. The dead mingle with the living, the hypocrisy of the powerful is exposed by the fool, and even Satan Himself makes a cameo appearance, all against a backdrop of eternal night. The translator, Gerald Gillespie, invents a new term to refer to the book糖心传媒檚 style: tantric romanticism. He claims it 糖心传媒渁 special label for the kind of anguish Bonaventura experiences in making the transition from the bright hopes of the Enlightenment into a perplexing new world of subjectivism, and in undertaking a journey into the interiority of the self that finally becomes unfathomable.糖心传媒�

The author of the Nightwatches, “Bonaventura”, as he is known, is a bit of a mystery. In his afterward, Gillespie talks about various theories of authorship: Friedrich Schelling, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert, Clemens Brentano, and August Klingemann have all been posited at one time or another as the writer of this strange collection of tales. Even Big Goethe himself is accused by one scholar, though that particular theory has a bit too much of a conspiratorial element to it for our banal reality, unfortunately.

Gillespie糖心传媒檚 translation is pretty cool. He manages to keep the super-baroque tone running without ever lapsing into parody, which is sometimes an issue when translating across eras. That said, Gillespie makes it quite clear that he is an academic, first and foremost. The text is laden with endnotes, the first appearing on the first line of the first Nightwatch to defend the translator糖心传媒檚 choice of the word 糖心传媒渜uixotic糖心传媒� (the original German, apparently, is abenteurlich, which 糖心传媒渁cquired ironic connotations with the advent of the modern novel糖心传媒�). Thankfully, these are endnotes and not footnotes, and many of the annotations do provide helpful historical and literary context for the Year-of-Our-Lord-2015 reader. Besides, a book that includes lines such as 糖心传媒渟he crept over skulls and dead men糖心传媒檚 bones toward the charnel house, returned with shovel and pick, and dug calmly and mysteriously in the earth糖心传媒� might occasionally need some grounding to keep us from being completely overwhelmed by the tide of grinning corpses and odes to the moon.

I really enjoyed reading the Nightwatches. Bonaventura糖心传媒檚 prose sometimes lapses into the ridiculous, but that糖心传媒檚 part of the fun of the novel. So long as you embrace the grotesque and absurd and everything else the book has to offer, preferably while wearing a silk black cape, you糖心传媒檒l find the novel to be an enchanting piece of work, transporting you to a brilliantly dark world of gargoyles and grave-robbers.

Its perfection arises precisely from its imperfection . . . . I have an image in my head. I see it clearly before me. Its colors are glaring and harsh in their brightness. But as soon as I rush to capture it, it explodes, and what I write down are separate bits that don糖心传媒檛 form a whole. Do you see it now? It糖心传媒檚 as if I tried to glue together a broken vase, piece by piece. But the shards are so fragmentary that I don糖心传媒檛 know which goes with which or how I fit them together, there糖心传媒檚 always one fragment left over. But this fragment! It makes the poem. It alone gives meaning . . . . My requiem should be a vase with water shooting through the glue in its cracks.

Soon after this speech, Kumamoto wrote this 糖心传媒渞equiem糖心传媒澨切拇綌which he also called 糖心传媒渉is poem糖心传媒澨切拇綌and now Hiro is writing his. Also, like his friend, Hiro is fixated on a broken object; in this case, it糖心传媒檚 his bedroom wall, which has a hairline fissure that he糖心传媒檚 been staring at for the last two years, so he can figure out how to fit himself inside it. Hiro has spent a lot of time staring at this crack, because following a traumatic incident when he was eighteen, he became a hikikomori, a young person who shuts him- or herself in a room and has no interaction with anyone else. Even though his parents still left food at his door, they pretty much gave up on him. However, at the beginning of this wonderful novel from Japanese-Austrian writer Milena Michiko Fla拧ar, Hiro finally re-emerges into the outside world.

After leaving his parents糖心传媒� house, he makes his way through the hustle and bustle of the city streets and finds sanctuary in a park he remembers from his childhood. Every day for months, he sits on the bench in the park, alone and indifferent to his surroundings. Then, one day, Ohara Tetsu appears. Hiro calls this man, who is sitting on the bench beside his, 糖心传媒淣ecktie糖心传媒� because of the red-and-gray striped tie he wears with his suit. At first, Hiro quietly observes this man as he eats his lunch, reads his paper, and takes naps. For a couple of weeks, they share the same spot in the park without saying much to each other, although Hiro begins to wonder why he spends so much time in the park instead of an office. Then one day, 糖心传媒渉e looked at me unexpectedly through the rain. I jumped up. I hadn糖心传媒檛 counted on that. Not with this unexpected knowing look. I糖心传媒檓 not alone, it said, you are there.糖心传媒�

At this point, Hiro begins to 糖心传媒渇all out of his cocoon糖心传媒� and allows himself to befriend this 糖心传媒渟alaryman糖心传媒� in his mid-fifties. The two start out with a silent understanding, but eventually Hiro, who had unsuccessfully tried to forget how to speak, and Tetsu engage in a conversation. Actually, Tetsu does all the talking. After making small talk about the dangers of smoking and the work his wife Ky艒ko puts into his bento box lunches, he confesses that he hasn糖心传媒檛 yet told her that he was fired for sleeping on the job.

From that moment, Hiro, despite his initial reluctance, becomes Tetsu糖心传媒檚 confidant. For months, they meet each other every day in the park; when it rains, they hang out in a jazz club. At first, it seems that these two unlikely friends couldn糖心传媒檛 be more opposite. After all, Hiro has never been in the workforce糖心传媒攁nd doesn糖心传媒檛 appear to have any plans to enter it糖心传媒攚hile Tetsu has dedicated most of his life to the firm that eventually fired him. However, as they start to share painful moments from their pasts, they realize that they have something important in common: both came from families that put pressure on them to be and act a certain way. So while Tetsu did not shut himself in his bedroom in his parents糖心传媒� house, he shut himself off from the world in other ways. Furthermore, like Hiro, Tetsu is starting to experience freedom once again.

I Called Him Necktie is a story about wanting to belong to a world that has allowed you that freedom. Hiro wants to belong to his family again, while Tetsu wants to continue to be useful to his wife. As their friendship grows, the two learn they cannot just shut themselves in a room or a nightclub or even in an office. They have to exist as flesh-and-blood human beings with souls in an increasingly mechanical world. They have to live. But fortunately, they also have each other to help them through it.

Fla拧ar further strengthens the bond between her characters through her minimal prose style, which comes through wonderfully through Sheila Dickie糖心传媒檚 sensitive translation. Fla拧ar doesn糖心传媒檛 just discuss poetry in her novel: Hiro糖心传媒檚 simple, childlike narration has its own unique rhythm that not only fit his character, but it never gets caught up in all of the noise and flash outside of the park. Instead, as a narrator, Hiro focuses on the delicate nature of human beings. In addition, the minimal use of punctuation shows a language that is unhampered by formality, so it flows like the water through the cracked vase mentioned in Kumamoto糖心传媒檚 speech. Because of the touching story and poetic quality of the prose, I Called Him Necktie is a book that readers of literature-in-translation will definitely want in their collection.

In the title story, which kicks off this collection, a woman sends a letter to 糖心传媒淩糖心传媒� for his birthday, announcing that her son has died and that his receipt of her letter means that she has died as well. After this announcement, she tells him that she began to love him before he even moved into the apartment building in Vienna where she also lived: She was fascinated by his imported objects and expensive books in different languages. After the first time she saw him, this love grew even more intense. Then, one day, after a chance encounter where he simply smiled at her, she became his 糖心传媒渟lave.糖心传媒�

She remained his slave, even after her mother and stepfather moved out of the apartment building and into a villa in Innsbruck. In fact, she made trips back to Vienna just to see him. Despite the fact he was usually seen with other women, she still saved herself for him, even rejecting marriage offers from men who were willing to take care of her and her son.

Perhaps it was folly, for then I would be living somewhere safe and quiet now, and my beloved child with me, but糖心传媒攚hy should I not tell you?糖心传媒擨 did not want to tie myself down; I wanted to be free for you at any time. In my inmost heart, the depths of my unconscious nature, my old childhood dream that one day you might yet summon me to you, if only for any hour lived on. And for the possibility of that one hour I rejected all else, so that I would be free to answer your first call. What else had my whole life been since I grew past childhood but waiting, waiting to know your will?

On a couple of occasions, he does summon her, and she submits, but things do not turn out the way she always dreamed they would be.

糖心传媒淎 Story Told in Twilight糖心传媒� is another story about submissive love that goes unnoticed in the dark糖心传媒攆iguratively and literally. A young man, who is staying with some friends in Scotland, is visited one evening by a vision in white, a mysterious girl whose identity is obscured by the twilight. The girl kisses him, and he falls in love. After she visits him again the next night, he is determined to discover her identity. Based on a single clue, he believes that she is Margot, the oldest of his three cousins. Even though Margot never shows any affection toward him, he wants her to reveal herself as the mysterious girl. When she doesn糖心传媒檛, he begins to feel tormented and causes harm to himself and the one who truly loves him.

No harm is caused in the third story, 糖心传媒淭he Debt Paid Late糖心传媒�; in fact, that story can be seen as the perfect counterpoint to 糖心传媒淟etter from an Unknown Woman.糖心传媒� Like the first story, 糖心传媒淭he Debt Paid Late糖心传媒� is narrated by a woman writing a letter; however, this time, she is married to a doctor and telling her story to a longtime friend. This story begins at the end of a stressful year of taking care of her daughter糖心传媒檚 children, who all had scarlet fever, and arranging her mother-in-law糖心传媒檚 funeral. Feeling that she糖心传媒檚 worn out, her husband recommends that she spend a few weeks in a sanitarium. Instead, she decides to stay at an inn in an isolated village in the mountains. On her first night there, however, she encounters a former stage actor from her past. This encounter triggers memories from her days as a na茂ve girl who believed that she was in love with him; as a result, she made herself vulnerable to danger. These memories make her realize that she is obligated to help the actor now that he is in a low point in his life.

Memories of the past are also evoked in the last story, 糖心传媒淔orgotten Dreams,糖心传媒� which is the shortest story in the collection. During his visit to a seaside villa, a man reunites with a woman he once loved and reproaches her for marrying 糖心传媒渢hat indolent financier with his mind always bent on making money.糖心传媒� He tries to remind her of the 糖心传媒渋ndependent idealist糖心传媒� she once was. However, she tries to convince him糖心传媒攁nd herself糖心传媒攖hat no one really understood her as a girl, and her husband has really made her dreams come true.

What makes these stories great is Zweig糖心传媒檚 brilliance in capturing the complicated feelings of the characters as they dwell on the lost loves of the past. As they look back, they realize that they didn糖心传媒檛 understand the risks that came with submitting themselves to love. While describing these risks, their thoughts and words are sometimes imbued with joy, sometimes with sadness. It糖心传媒檚 tricky to keep these emotions balanced, especially within the confines of a short story, yet Zweig manages to do just that. As a result, he is able to shed light on what the unknown woman called the 糖心传媒渓ove of a child that passes unnoticed in the dark.糖心传媒�

In case you’ve forgotten, Chris is a writer, copy editor, and proofreader from Methuen, MA; he’s also a regular reviewer for Three Percent and runs the , and Twitter-publicly apologized for ruining Murakami for me. He’s a good guy.

Have we mentioned how much we LOVE I mean good hot damn.

Anyway, here’s the beginning of Chris’s review:

After a mysterious woman confesses to an author simply known as 糖心传媒淩糖心传媒� that she has loved him since she was a teenager, she offers the following explanation: 糖心传媒淭here is nothing on earth like the love of a child that passes unnoticed in the dark because she has no hope: her love is submissive, so much a servant糖心传媒檚 love, passionate and lying in wait, in a way that the avid yet unconsciously demanding love of a grown woman can never be.糖心传媒� This theme of a child糖心传媒檚 submissive love runs throughout Stefan Zweig糖心传媒檚 story collection Letter from an Unknown Woman and Other Stories.

In the title story, which kicks off this collection, a woman sends a letter to 糖心传媒淩糖心传媒� for his birthday, announcing that her son has died and that his receipt of her letter means that she has died as well. After this announcement, she tells him that she began to love him before he even moved into the apartment building in Vienna where she also lived: She was fascinated by his imported objects and expensive books in different languages. After the first time she saw him, this love grew even more intense. Then, one day, after a chance encounter where he simply smiled at her, she became his 糖心传媒渟lave.糖心传媒�

She remained his slave, even after her mother and stepfather moved out of the apartment building and into a villa in Innsbruck. In fact, she made trips back to Vienna just to see him. Despite the fact he was usually seen with other women, she still saved herself for him, even rejecting marriage offers from men who were willing to take care of her and her son.

For the rest of the review, go here.

Due to some schedule hiccups (prep for AWP, AWP, post-AWP) and other interference (Scranton, PA, tinkering with the Web World in a manner that made the site inaccessible from outside University networks for the past two days), we finally kick back into our regular schedule of reviews and review posts. Not much more to say on that subject, so just take a look at And Other Stories’s covers糖心传媒攖hey’re fun! And we like the And Other people (People?, capital P?) in general, so that, too.

“Walking” novels seem to be something authors go back to again and again, reaching as far back (and probably farther) as Jane Austen (yes I did just go there), using it as a tactic to drive dialogue, narrative, etc. Open Letter’s own uses walking frequently in his prose as a wonderful narrative device. What strikes me as fascinating is the many ways in which walking is put down on paper糖心传媒攏o two authors seem to approach or apply the action quite the same way, rendering very different and delightful results. Here’s a part of Emily’s review (which I know for a fact she wrote, inspired, after taking a walk. FULL CIRCLE.):

The narrative style of Zbinden糖心传媒檚 Progress is a sort of monodialogue: it糖心传媒檚 not quite a monologue, though Zbinden糖心传媒檚 is the only voice we hear. Nor is it a dialogue exactly, though Zbinden occasionally asks K芒zim a question and we can infer, from Zbinden糖心传媒檚 side, that K芒zim both answers Zbinden糖心传媒檚 questions and asks him some of his own. Zbinden is constantly interrupting himself to greet and have short conversations with all the other residents and caretakers he meets on his way down the stairs, but again, even though there are pauses to indicate the other people糖心传媒檚 responses and we can more or less infer what they糖心传媒檝e said based on Zbinden糖心传媒檚 replies, the only words on the page are the ones Zbinden speaks.

In a way, the narrative form mimics a walk: walking can be a social activity, and you might interact with any number of people (or animals, or trees, or buildings, if that糖心传媒檚 more your style) along the way, but at its heart, walking is a highly individual experience, in that the impressions left by the walk, although they may be influenced by others, are ultimately the walker糖心传媒檚 own.

Walking糖心传媒攁nd to be more specific, going for a walk糖心传媒攕trikes me as a very human activity. We might go for a stroll around the neighborhood or a hike through the woods; our ancestors may have trekked across a continent as pioneers on the Oregon Trail or in much earlier migrations as hunter-gatherers. Walking is one of the simplest, most ancient ways of interacting with and exploring the world we live in, and as humans in an increasingly indoor and insular world, we might do well to take Zbinden糖心传媒檚 advice and take the time to get to know the world outside.

For the full review, mosey on over here.