Разговор за коня на Балзак

by Gert Hofmann, Александър Андреев (Translator)

Text: English, German (translation)

Genres: Short Stories, Germany, Fiction, German Literature

239 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

About the author

Gert Hofmann (1931 – 1993) was a German writer and professor of German literature.

He was the father of poet Michael Hofmann, who translated some of his father's works into English.

Reviews

[João Reis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing book by Gert Hofmann, who was a genius of an author (novels, plays, short stories) and is one of my favourite writers. I would say he’s one of the very few whose oeuvre I find perfect and actually envy as a fellow author. It doesn’t surprise me, but it surely saddens me to see a writer like Gert Hofmann falling into oblivion while so much crap keeps being published.
So, now regarding “Balzac’s Horse and Other Stories”: this book comprises 9 short stories, all of them superb pieces of writing. The original German version, “Gespräch über Balzacs Pferd : vier Novellen”, included only, as the subtitle suggests, 4 short stories; the remaining 5 pieces included in this British edition printed in 1989 by Secker & Warburg had been published independently or not published at all. The stories were translated by Christopher Middleton and Michael Hofmann (G. Hofmann’s son).
And, most importantly, the short stories: as usual, G. Hofmann manages to reach a perfect equilibrium between comedy and tragedy, portraying bizarre individuals facing a harsh world. The result is both funny (often hilarious) and simultaneously heart-breaking. Their themes are varied, though one can find a connecting thread: most of them portray writers trying to write and survive in poor conditions. G.H. even uses some historical characters, like Giacomo Casanova, Balzac, Robert Walser and Jacob Lenz. All of them odd creatures… The first short story, “Moth”, is one exception. WW2 is beginning, and G.H. uses once again a plural narrator (like in Our Conquest or in The Parable of the Blind) to describe a funny albeit sad story of madness and paternal love.
“And we see something we think we’ll never in our lives forget, but which, all the same, in view of the carnage to come, we quickly did forget.”
“Moth” is followed by “Casanova and the Extra”, one of the longest pieces, in which Casanova himself meets, by pure chance, his own mother, who he thought dead. The absurdist caustic dialogues are hilarious, and the result is once again fun and sad. “Tolstoy's Head” follows Lev Tolstoy’s son adventures in the USA, “The Night” is a metaphorical take on pain and humiliation and poverty, “Arno” is a perfect piece of writing about a man who lives with his Mom and tries to be a writer whilst waiting for a poet to die, “The Cramp” is a powerfully engaging story of a bankrupt man and “a cramped” Federal Germany. “A Conversation about Balzac’s Horse” is another fabulous story: a decrepit, senile Balzac talks about art and the public tastes with the inspector of Paris cloacas. The last 2 stories are probably my favourite, both based on real writers and also hilarious, heart-breaking and poignant: “The Resignation of the Writer Robert Walser from the Literary Society” and “The Return of the Prodigal Jacob Michael Reinhold Lenz to Riga”. In the former, G.H. superbly mimics R. Walser’s style to show us his last meeting with the chairman of a literary society, and in the latter, we meet Lenz when he, broken, sick and indebted, returns to his father’s house in Riga. In both stories, G.H. develops a pessimistic though true-to-life vision on literary creation and the barriers writers must surpass when dealing with a money-oriented society.
All 9 short stories are brilliant, and G. Hofmann needs a broader audience. That’s why I’ve been nagging a Portuguese publisher to get him reprinted once again. Maybe one day I get lucky.

[Thomas Widrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alle vier Novellen des Bandes sind auf ihre Art spannend und haben mich zum Weiterlesen getrieben. Komisches, Düsteres, Unappetitliches und Verstörendes stehen nebeneinander, und der Klappentext des Bayerischen Fernsehens, der bemerkt, dass Hofmann ‚das Stilmittel der Groteske virtuos handhabt‘ trifft meiner Ansicht nach ins Schwarze.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

οι δύο πρώτες ιστορίες ήταν πολύ καλές, μετά - και ειδικά το διήγημα του τίτλου- τις τέλειωσα για να μην αφήσω ανολοκλήρωτο το βιβλίο

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories from a novelist can seem slight and even incomplete, which may account for the weak effect of the first entries in this collection. However, strength builds, until the last terrible story, for which the collection is named, takes the reader by surprise, or perhaps by shock. More thinking and some looking back over the collection is necessary before more can be said. For those who don't want to commit to a novel by this powerful writer, these stories are a good introduction, which if one is lucky, will lead to The Film Explainer, Luck, and Lichtenberg and the Little Flower Girl.

[Susu]

Vier sehr lesbare Novellen - Lenz, Casanova, Balzac und Walser. Diese eher kuose Zusammenstellung erschließt sich nicht unbedingt - der Autor pickt sich einzelne Szenen aus dem Leben der Autoren heraus. Allerdings hilft es durchaus, wenn man ein wenig über die gewählten Autoren Bescheid weiß - ansonsten hängt man da ein wenig in der Luft.