Hourglass
Monday, May 21st, 2007 @ 04:30
by Danilo Kiš (1972)
The book starts with a prologue that muses on the chalice/faces optical illusion, which then proceeds to interspersions of Travel Scenes, Notes of a Madman, and Criminal Investigation, each one with its own distinctive narrative (3rd-person narrative, 1st-person, silent dialogue), sometimes short sometimes running for pages. We are introduced to he protagonist, a railway clerk known as E.S., inquiring indignantly to the authorities for his reduced pension, and in his narrative also reveals other mundane day-to-day concerns (his quarrel with his sister and nephew) that he seems absurdly obsessed with, that at initial glance looks arbitrary but slowly and chillingly grows into dawning comprehension, that this is a futile defiant thrashing of a condemned man in the face of the implicit story that was taking place — the extermination and the massacre of the Jews.
Kiš weaved a wealth literary references and devices into this “bourgeois horror story,” with rich symbolism and metaphors colouring the microscopic world of E.S. Apparently the movie is in post-production, directed by a Hungarian director (Szabolcs Tolnai), and Lars Rudolph is playing. Will be looking forward to it.
