Gert Hofmann
1985
Around 150 pages
I love it when novelists are inspired by paintings or other works of art. It makes me feel like inspiration is magical and can strike when you least expect it, even if you don't currently have that great idea. I mean, I didn't really enjoy this, but I appreciate the way it came together.
Oh, you haven't heard of Pieter Bruegel's 1568 painting, Parabel der Blinden? You cretin. I hadn't either. Let me fill you in. It depicts a very literal take on "the blind leading the blind" expression. So this is sort of like reading the novelization of a movie, which very rarely ends in literary triumph.
This is a short novel, but I feel like it could have been even shorter, with not much happening outside of... you know, that main thing in the painting. It was a creative idea, but didn't really have enough to sustain it for a whole novel. It was more of a fable, but 150 pages is long for a fable.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Publishers Weekly describes the novel as an "implacably bleak fable."
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