Today’s is another story by an author of whom I know very little, which I’ve plucked from a collection of Big Guns German fiction including Thomas Mann‘s Death in Venice, Kafka‘s Metamorphosis, Hoffmansthall, Hermann Broch, ad krautium, serious big-league uberplayers, which only deepens the rift in my brow over the fact that I don’t know much about Brentano. The biographical paragraph accompanying the story doesn’t reveal much, but does inform The Reader that “His was a restless, thoroughly unhappy life. Married to a hysterical woman, he divorced her, thus thwarting his subsequent ambition to become a priest.”
Which makes me think that whomever was responsible for penning these blurbs must’ve taken a gripe with Brentano, had unsettled family debt, or was the progeny of the next husband of this hysterical woman, or had had a very bad day. And it also makes Yourstruly a full-blooded Brentano sympathizer.
Awesome, awesome idea; love the site. If you haven’t done it already I’d love to hear “A&P” by John Updike, it’s short but good (if you’re taking requests).
I would like to thank you for your site, your voice and your time. I enjoy listening to you podcasts. You are a fine story teller, as is my father. You have remarkably similar styles, strange to me? I will certainly continue to visit and listen as will my children.
Sincerely
dlh