Customer Reviews

Geometric Regional Novel

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This novel is so original and surprising in its approach that the reviewer would do it a disservice to tell what it is all about. Suffice it to say that the narrator begins to describe the village, but then... And he goes on with his description, which leads to... And he explains what he has described, which means that... At every turn the reader's expectations are reversed, so that pretty soon he no longer knows what to expect and must share in the delight and sometimes the difficulty of continuous creation.

It looks very much like a classroom assignment subverted by a rebellious student, one of those wiseacres who disagrees with everything the teacher says. I will give nothing away if I remark that the village, its structure, its inhabitants, its government, its bureaucracy, its manner of thinking, once subjected to this treatment, become objects of satire. But at a certain point it becomes evident that the author is not just an upstart; he knows perfectly well what he is doing, for he is also methodically exploding conventions on a larger scale: language, logic, literature, the whole enterprise of social life and regulation. The novel-prank takes on a higher meaning, which is spelled out the conventional way in an afterword by the translator, Johannes Vazulik, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Austrian writer Gert Jonke. Vazulik is to be commended for making GEOMETRISCHER HEIMATROMAN, written in 1969 and revised in 1980, available in English for the first time. Judging by the examples of German he gives, the translation itself was a tremendous feat. (Dalkey Archive Press, with its wonderful list, is also to be commended.)

A final observation: there is a curious parallel between GEOMETRIC REGIONAL NOVEL and EINSTEIN'S DREAMS (1993) by Alan Lightman. Neither is a novel in the strict sense of the term, both return to the same scene again and again to achieve new perspectives and both occasionally leap into astonishing flights of fancy. There is one sequence in GEOMETRIC REGIONAL NOVEL that is absolutely breathtaking in its invention, horribly fantastic and horribly real at the same time. Lucian, Aristophanes and Kafka would have been proud to have conceived it, and if your heart goes where the wild goose goes you must read it.

Jonke's Geometric Regional Novel presents to us a village in which idiotic bureaucracy, puzzling repetitions, and extended explanations govern the simple lives of the people living there. The relatively easy notion of walking across the village square is suggested over and over again, "Let's walk across the village square," but each time the suggestion is shot down for some reason or another. Completely absurd and prohibitive regulations concerning nonthreatening actions such as crossing bridges or taking a walk through the woods saturate the village. Over-documentation, gossip, and hearsay permeate the village, and there are several versions of the truth about things like how the crowd reacted to the acrobat in the town square, or the mysterious old man who seemed to summon the flood, or the blacksmith who built a circular house.

What kind of a strange place is this? Jonke's novel was very influenced by the prohibitive regime of the Nazis, and the hyper-government of the small town by an elusive and highly regarded mayor is reminiscent of the oppressive time period. The repeated phrases, the backtracking narration, and the drawings and signposts all convey the restrictive tone of the novel. One of the long lists in the novel enumerates what the children in school are taught. Among that list, they are not to slouch, carouse, kill, defy, make any noise, beat, annoy, shout, brag, or love, instead children are to comb, learn, honor, give, sew, file, sifts, let, seek, hurry, help, strain, or follow. These terrifying lists describe the education of a village that is completely controlled by a higher governmental power. Everything is monitored, documented, and labeled.

Geometric Regional Novel presents a terrifying view of what the world can be like if government ever becomes too oppressive or out of control. There is a 4 page application to take a walk in the woods, which asks such ridiculous questions as "Have you answered all questions truthfully? Have you answered any questions falsely? Which? Why? Which questions that you aren't listing here did you answer falsely?" The distrust that the government has for the people and the resulting overregulation of the lives of the citizens paints a dismal picture of the novel, but reveals a fascinating insight into our own bureaucracy and government. As impossible as the novel seems, when one does their taxes or confronts confusing applications at any governmental office, Jonke's novel doesn't seem so off base. This book is one not to be taken lightly - don't take it to the beach. Instead, read it once, put it down. Let time pass. As current events change in the world, as our government inevitably changes to meet the needs of an evolving population, read Jonke's book again. Hopefully the second time you read it, it won't remind you of the reality you are living on a day to day basis.

We can read the writer's words.

Yes, let's read the writer's words.

Other than the meaning, the writer's words are empty.

Worth reading, reminds me a little of Calvino.