520. Homo Faber

Homo Faber
Max Frisch
1957
Around 230 pages

I was disappointed to discover that there are only two Frisch novels on the List. It really feels like he is flourishing as a writer, and this was a marked improvement from I'm Not Stiller. Maybe this is him hitting his peak. Mother knows best (and yes, you should be concerned that I'm now referring to the List as Mother).

Walter Faber is a successful engineer traveling through Europe and America. He begins an affair with an art student Hanna, and she becomes sick with child. Faber gets a job in Baghdad, and they agree to split up and abort the pregnancy. Some Oedipal adventures ensue.

This story heavily hinges on coincidence, but that seems to fit the themes of Greek tragedies pretty well. I really admired Frisch's writing style, which was contemplative but kept the story moving. Despite the questionable actions of the characters, he didn't moralize. 

Worth a read, and I look forward to looking into more of his work, when I am finally free from this blog's mortal coil.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into a movie in 1991.

UP NEXT: Blue of Noon by Georges Bataille

500. I'm Not Stiller

I'm Not Stiller
Max Frisch
1954
Around 390 pages

500. Well, I'm not going to lie to you, it hasn't been easy. Some of the older books have gone into the literary equivalent of the Witness Protection Program, while others take 4,391 words to complete a single sentence. But in all the muck, I have found some really special treasures. It's like in Trainspotting when Mark Renton reaches into the filthy toilet to retrieve his drugs. We can look forward to encountering that scene, and I'm sure many other disgusting moments, during the latter half of this List. I can't wait!

Anyway, I'm Not Stiller kind of fumbled the ball for holding the honor of the big five hundo. Our narrator, James Larkin White, is arrested upon arriving to Switzerland. The authorities claim he is a missing sculptor, Anatol Ludwig Stiller, a claim corroborated by Stiller's wife and friends as well.

I find stories about mistaken identity rather tedious; it's frustrating to have our main character have to keep denying/claiming the same thing again and again, without getting anywhere. I suppose that's the point, and Frisch does lean into the Kakfa-esque nightmarish aspect of being entombed alive by crushing bureaucracy. But that's not the fun kind of horror, where body parts are flying and mad axe men are on the loose. 

I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I do find it interesting that two books lately (this and Self-Condemned) have featured characters who regret their lack of action during the war. It's a different kind of sadness than the kind we read from authors with combat experience. So I guess you are doomed to guilt, no matter what you do.

Here's to the next 500! And fuck that last one.

 

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

There have been attempts to adapt this into film but none have been successful.

UP NEXT: The Ragazzi by Pier Paulo Pasolini