The Master of the
Day of Judgment – Leo Perutz
This 1930 classic fantastic mystery by Leo Perutz is set in Vienna in the early 20th century. The themes and devices will be familiar to us post-modern readers.
A romantic triangle in the era of the late Hapsburgs as in
Sándor Márai’s Embers. Guilt over
sexual transgressions as in Arthur Schnitzler’s stories from decadent
Vienna. The secret revealed in a
manuscript as in Umberto Eco’s The Name
of the Rose. The phantasmagoric atmosphere as in William Kotzwinkle’s Fata Morgana. The unreliability of an
unsympathetic narrator – well, name your favorite modernist writer from the
early 20th century.
Our narrator, the often ruthless and brutal Baron Yosch,
narrates the events surrounding the suicide of actor Eugene Bischoff, the
latest in a mysterious series of suicides. His chronicle is plagued by
semi-confessed guilt over adultery. We readers receive tantalizing hints as to
who is behind the eponymous "The Master of the Day of Judgment." As the
amateur detectives Solgrub and Gorsky reconstruct the dead man's final hours,
we realize we have to read this slowly so as not to be more confused than the
author intends us to be.
Creepy, with a surprise ending. Readers looking for Kafka-lite won’t go wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment