FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Are Kafkaesque works a homage to the master?
The novellas of Francine Prose step on old gravesGuided Tours of Hell
Three Pigs in Five Days
A duet of novellas by Francine Prose, Metropolitan, 241 pp.Guided Tours of Hell and Three Pigs in Five Days, a duet of novellas by Francine Prose, are well-written but joyless tomes whose sad characters will linger with you long after you have closed the last page.
In the shorter "Guided Tours of Hell," an obscure American playwright, Landau, in Prague to attend a literary conference organized by the Kafka Foundation, accompanies a group of tourists around a former concentration camp. They are led by a flamboyant camp survivor, Juri. Landau has produced a stage adaptation of Juri's work, "To Kafka from Felice."
Those readers who have sufficient familiarity with the work or life of Franz Kafka will be aware that writer was twice engaged to Felice Bauer. They never married. The author died in 1924. Characters portrayed by Kafka were usually lonely, distrusting, confused and almost paranoic. Guilt is one of his major themes.
Francine Prose has emulated Kafka with a measure of success. Here are not nice tales about nice people. The insecure Landau is a failure. The reminiscences of Juri are inaccurate. The conference organizer is a fraud.
In "Three Pigs in Five Days," a journalist for a travel magazine, Nina, and her editor / lover Leo embark on a tour of the French capital for a project with the working title "Paris Death Trip." They visit the city's catacombs and the graves of Beaudelaire, Satre, Beauvoir et al. The self-absorbed Nina finds it difficult to dwell on anything positive for long. Her even more self-absorbed lover practices indiscriminate emotional cruelty. Intimate scenes between the two lovers, which might have given relief from the brooding mood, appear to have been deliberately glossed over in order to maintain a sense of impending quietus.
As a study in the dishonesty that creeps into all our lives the work has truth and universal appeal. As work of iconoclastic daring it has merit. But uplifting, it ain't!
Alan Egerton Ball
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