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A Whole Life
An international bestseller that recalls the quiet power of John Williams's Stoner and Marilynne Robinson's Lila
Andreas Egger knows every path and peak of his mountain valley, the source of his sustenance, his livelihood--his home.
Set in the mid-twentieth century and told with beauty and tenderness, Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life is a story of man's relationship with an ancient landscape, of the value of solitude, of the arrival of the modern world, and above all, of the moments, great and small, that make us who we are.
161 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2014
About the author
Robert Seethaler
22 books854 followersRobert Seethaler is an Austrian living in Berlin and is the author of four previous novels. A Whole Life is his first work to be translated into English and is already a German bestseller, selling over 100,000 copies. The book has been translated from its original German by Charlotte Collins.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,750 reviews
July 6, 2020
A touch of Alpenglow
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Austrian author Robert Seethaler gingerly depicts the austere life of a man, Andreas Egger, living and working in a remote alpine village where he has arrived in his early childhood as an orphan. He glances through Egger’s working life, his marriage and his encounters with social change and World History - war imprisonment and labour camp in the East. Modest and unassuming, Egger is a man of few words, a physically strong man of no distinction.
Seethaler’s simple and collected narrative style excellently matches the serene sobriety of Egger’s life. Although the novel is written from Andreas Egger’s perspective, Seethaler makes it very clear that in his philosophy of life there is no place for haughty anthropocentrism. The world does not revolve around his protagonist and Egger is fully aware his life is futile and insignificant within the scope of the universe. He is at peace with what life is prepared to give him and does not frantically pursue happiness..
The most lyrical passages consider the place of man in nature, man being in awe of the beauty and the power of Nature. Nature and especially the mountains are paramount in this novel, which perhaps expounds to some extent why this quiet novel about an unspectacular life has enchanted so many readers. In our times of environmental threats to our planet and complex demands of modern life, people probably come to treasure again the Romantic view on Nature as a place where one can go to reflect and contemplate the many questions of life, a place where one can find solace and happiness in its purity. In the mountains we find a place of exquisite beauty, where we can experience what John Ruskin called the 'endless perspicuity of space; the unfatigued veracity of eternal light', enabling us to get in touch with the Sublime. Mountaineering and hiking in mountainous landscapes induce humbleness and sharpens one’s consciousness of the small place we take in the universe. As Robert Macfarlane writes in Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination, his book about how mountains became such a preoccupation for the modern western imagination:
(Caspar David Friedrich, Trees in the Moonlight, 1824)
In a certain sense Seethaler has composed a present day variation on the beauteous and meditative 19th century German notion of Waldeinsamkeit , the untranslatable feeling of woodland solitude, of being alone in the woods and contemplating one’s existence, transposing this literary and musical motif from Romanticism to the awe-inspiring grandeur of the mountain scenery. Seethaler’s novel wonderfully connects with poems like Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Waldeinsamkeit, Karl Lemcke’s Ich saß zu deinen Füßen (put to music by Brahms in his lovely Lied In Waldeseinsamkeit, op. 85, no. 6), and Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff’s In der Fremde , put to music by Robert Schumann, the ultimate composer of the Waldeinsamkeit, in his Liederkreis Op. 39. Just listen to Schumann’s Lied In a Distant Land – don’t even try not to weep.
In der Fremde
Aus der Heimat hinter den Blitzen rot
Da Kommen die Wolken her,
Aber Vater und Mutter sind lange tot,
Es kennt mich dort keiner mehr.
Wie bald, ach wie bald kommt die stille Zeit,
Da ruhe Ich auch, und über mir
Rauscht die schöne Waldeinsamkeit,
Und keiner kennt mich mehr hier.
In a Distant Land
From my homeland beyond the red flashes,
That’s where the clouds come from,
But my father and mother are long dead,
And no one knows me there now.
How soon, oh, how soon the quiet time will come,
Then I will rest, too, and over me
Will murmur the lovely forest solitude,
And no one will know me here either.
(translation by Celia Sgroi)
The superbly lyrical nature imageries set aside, Seethaler doesn’t sentimentalize or glorify nature and the mountains like in Romanticism. Distinctly Romantic in his view on nature, there is no rebuking of modernising life or syrupy nostalgia about the ‘good old days’. Nature is indifferent towards man’s fate, and man is ‘a small but not unimportant cog in a gigantic machine called Progess’ – thoughts which can bring about melancholia at times, but doesn’t impede Egger in cherishing the mere pleasure of existing. Instead of dreaming of a grand and compelling life like the Romantic artist, there is the modern theme of the interpretation of the concept of the good life in absence of God. What really counts is that Egger has lived life to the fullest, and has reached a state of grace and a deep sense of fulfilment:
However a simple life close to nature might look alluring, perhaps few of us would in the end feel at ease in Andreas Egger’s shoes and persist in his choice for a semi-hermit existence (before you think you would, dear reader, no cheating though, imagine an almost secluded life without books…).
My thanks to the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NetGalley and Robert Seethaler for providing me with an ARC of this novel.
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Austrian author Robert Seethaler gingerly depicts the austere life of a man, Andreas Egger, living and working in a remote alpine village where he has arrived in his early childhood as an orphan. He glances through Egger’s working life, his marriage and his encounters with social change and World History - war imprisonment and labour camp in the East. Modest and unassuming, Egger is a man of few words, a physically strong man of no distinction.
Seethaler’s simple and collected narrative style excellently matches the serene sobriety of Egger’s life. Although the novel is written from Andreas Egger’s perspective, Seethaler makes it very clear that in his philosophy of life there is no place for haughty anthropocentrism. The world does not revolve around his protagonist and Egger is fully aware his life is futile and insignificant within the scope of the universe. He is at peace with what life is prepared to give him and does not frantically pursue happiness..
The most lyrical passages consider the place of man in nature, man being in awe of the beauty and the power of Nature. Nature and especially the mountains are paramount in this novel, which perhaps expounds to some extent why this quiet novel about an unspectacular life has enchanted so many readers. In our times of environmental threats to our planet and complex demands of modern life, people probably come to treasure again the Romantic view on Nature as a place where one can go to reflect and contemplate the many questions of life, a place where one can find solace and happiness in its purity. In the mountains we find a place of exquisite beauty, where we can experience what John Ruskin called the 'endless perspicuity of space; the unfatigued veracity of eternal light', enabling us to get in touch with the Sublime. Mountaineering and hiking in mountainous landscapes induce humbleness and sharpens one’s consciousness of the small place we take in the universe. As Robert Macfarlane writes in Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination, his book about how mountains became such a preoccupation for the modern western imagination:
Mountains return to us the priceless capacity for wonder which can so insensibly be leached away by modern existence, and they urge us to apply that wonder to our own everyday lives. By speaking of greater forces than we can possibly invoke, and by confronting us with greater spans of time than we can possibly envisage, mountains refute our excessive trust in the man-made. They pose profound questions about our durability and the importance of our schemes.
(Caspar David Friedrich, Trees in the Moonlight, 1824)
In a certain sense Seethaler has composed a present day variation on the beauteous and meditative 19th century German notion of Waldeinsamkeit , the untranslatable feeling of woodland solitude, of being alone in the woods and contemplating one’s existence, transposing this literary and musical motif from Romanticism to the awe-inspiring grandeur of the mountain scenery. Seethaler’s novel wonderfully connects with poems like Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Waldeinsamkeit, Karl Lemcke’s Ich saß zu deinen Füßen (put to music by Brahms in his lovely Lied In Waldeseinsamkeit, op. 85, no. 6), and Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff’s In der Fremde , put to music by Robert Schumann, the ultimate composer of the Waldeinsamkeit, in his Liederkreis Op. 39. Just listen to Schumann’s Lied In a Distant Land – don’t even try not to weep.
In der Fremde
Aus der Heimat hinter den Blitzen rot
Da Kommen die Wolken her,
Aber Vater und Mutter sind lange tot,
Es kennt mich dort keiner mehr.
Wie bald, ach wie bald kommt die stille Zeit,
Da ruhe Ich auch, und über mir
Rauscht die schöne Waldeinsamkeit,
Und keiner kennt mich mehr hier.
In a Distant Land
From my homeland beyond the red flashes,
That’s where the clouds come from,
But my father and mother are long dead,
And no one knows me there now.
How soon, oh, how soon the quiet time will come,
Then I will rest, too, and over me
Will murmur the lovely forest solitude,
And no one will know me here either.
(translation by Celia Sgroi)
The superbly lyrical nature imageries set aside, Seethaler doesn’t sentimentalize or glorify nature and the mountains like in Romanticism. Distinctly Romantic in his view on nature, there is no rebuking of modernising life or syrupy nostalgia about the ‘good old days’. Nature is indifferent towards man’s fate, and man is ‘a small but not unimportant cog in a gigantic machine called Progess’ – thoughts which can bring about melancholia at times, but doesn’t impede Egger in cherishing the mere pleasure of existing. Instead of dreaming of a grand and compelling life like the Romantic artist, there is the modern theme of the interpretation of the concept of the good life in absence of God. What really counts is that Egger has lived life to the fullest, and has reached a state of grace and a deep sense of fulfilment:
Yet in truth he didn’t much care about the villager’s opinions or their outrage. to them he was just an old man who lived in a dugout, talked to himself, and crouched in a freezing cold mountain stream to wash every morning. As far as he was concerned, though, he had done all right, and thus had every reason to be content. He would be able to live well for quite some time from the money from his tour-guiding days; he had a roof over his head, slept in his own bed, and when he sat on his little stool outside the front door he could let his gaze wander until his eyes closed and his chin sank onto his chest. In his life he too, like all people, had harboured ideas and dreams. Some he had fulfilled for himself; some had been granted to him. Many things had remained out of reach, of barely had he reached them than they were torn from his hands again. But he was still here.
However a simple life close to nature might look alluring, perhaps few of us would in the end feel at ease in Andreas Egger’s shoes and persist in his choice for a semi-hermit existence (before you think you would, dear reader, no cheating though, imagine an almost secluded life without books…).
My thanks to the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NetGalley and Robert Seethaler for providing me with an ARC of this novel.
May 9, 2026
3.5*
“You can buy a man's hours off him, you can steal his days from him, or you can rob him of his whole life, but no one can take away from any man so much as a single moment. That's the way it is.”
I’ve had this book for a while but I am happy to have read it at the best possible time and place. I took it with me on vacation in the Austrian Alps which is also the setting of this short novel. I also have pleasant memories about its acquisition. A few years ago I spent 1 or 2 hours in Waterstones Piccadilly, occasionally chatting with a very friendly and knowledgeable sales assistant. At checkout, I asked him to recommend me a book that he loved and this was it.
As the title suggests, the novel presents the whole life of Andreas Egger. It starts in a small Austrian village in the Alps where the young orphan is working for his uncle and he is crippled in an accident. We follow him through his youth working for a cable car constructor, his short and tragic marriage with Marie, his years as war prisoner and the aftermath until his death. His life was hard and quite sad but he was content with it as it was, not succumbing to despair.
“He couldn't remember where he had come from, and ultimately he didn't know where he would go. But he could look back without regret on the time in between, his life, with a full-throated laugh and utter amazement.”
The blurb compares this novel with Stoner, a book I also read this year. I agree that there are similarities in the clear, impassionate writing and also in the characters’ acceptance of their fate. However, there is a major difference. Egger’s hardship was most of the times unavoidable and did not depend on his behaviour whereas Stoner’s inaction and stoicism caused many of his hardship and the drama of his family.
The writing is simple, atmospheric and it grabs you into the story without warning. It is a story about a life with its ups and downs but also a story about changes, in the environment and in people.
“You can buy a man's hours off him, you can steal his days from him, or you can rob him of his whole life, but no one can take away from any man so much as a single moment. That's the way it is.”
I’ve had this book for a while but I am happy to have read it at the best possible time and place. I took it with me on vacation in the Austrian Alps which is also the setting of this short novel. I also have pleasant memories about its acquisition. A few years ago I spent 1 or 2 hours in Waterstones Piccadilly, occasionally chatting with a very friendly and knowledgeable sales assistant. At checkout, I asked him to recommend me a book that he loved and this was it.
As the title suggests, the novel presents the whole life of Andreas Egger. It starts in a small Austrian village in the Alps where the young orphan is working for his uncle and he is crippled in an accident. We follow him through his youth working for a cable car constructor, his short and tragic marriage with Marie, his years as war prisoner and the aftermath until his death. His life was hard and quite sad but he was content with it as it was, not succumbing to despair.
“He couldn't remember where he had come from, and ultimately he didn't know where he would go. But he could look back without regret on the time in between, his life, with a full-throated laugh and utter amazement.”
The blurb compares this novel with Stoner, a book I also read this year. I agree that there are similarities in the clear, impassionate writing and also in the characters’ acceptance of their fate. However, there is a major difference. Egger’s hardship was most of the times unavoidable and did not depend on his behaviour whereas Stoner’s inaction and stoicism caused many of his hardship and the drama of his family.
The writing is simple, atmospheric and it grabs you into the story without warning. It is a story about a life with its ups and downs but also a story about changes, in the environment and in people.
October 25, 2023
What constitutes a “whole life”? Does it mean loads of success, rare failures and tremendous happiness? If that’s the case, then I’d venture to say few of us could say we’ve lived a “whole life”. However, if it means having some very special moments in time, even ones that seem pretty insignificant to an outsider, then perhaps down that long road we could indeed say we’ve lived a whole life. Great chunks of time may pass between those moments, yet they remain forever stamped in our memories. Andreas Egger has lived in this way, and this slim novel depicts an entire life in few pages with elegance yet an economy of words.
“He couldn’t remember where he had come from, and ultimately he didn’t know where he would go. But he could look back without regret on the time in between, his life, with a full-throated laugh and utter amazement.”
The novel is set in an alpine village during the mid-1900s, and the landscape is evoked beautifully. Like Egger, I felt the awesomeness of the mountains – both the majesty and the danger. A quiet, simple man, Egger respects the natural world and thrives in it. Yet when progress makes its inevitable way to the region, he doesn’t shrink from it but becomes a part of it. What I admired about the approach taken by the author is that he doesn’t offer the reader a “grumpy old man” cliché. Instead Egger is a man who continues to respect nature, while realizing the need for progress.
“In his heart there was a curious sensation of expansiveness and pride. He felt that he was part of something big, something that far exceeded his own powers (including the power of his imagination), and which he thought he could see would spell progress, not just for life in the valley but also, somehow, for the whole of humankind.”
There’s not an ounce of sentimentality to this story. I’m most impressed when a story makes such an impact without resorting to this. It could easily have gone that route if Robert Seethaler was that kind of writer. After all, Egger’s life is a difficult one. He was orphaned at an early age and sent to live with an abusive relative. He was a behind-the-scenes sort of guy; not a leader but hard-working. He had one true love, served in World War II, became a prisoner-of-war, and was a victim of nature’s capacity to do harm. In his old age, he looks back on his past not with nostalgia or regret or anger, but with a quiet contemplation. He also goes through a brief period of what many of us have likely gone through at least once: what if there is something more out there for us?
“A man needed to lift up his eyes and look as far as possible beyond his own small, limited patch of ground.”
Lovers of John Williams’ Stoner or Wendell Berry’s Port William folk will admire this book. Don’t expect much action here or you will be disappointed. This is my second outing with Seethaler and I’m a huge fan. But then again, I take to quiet reflective writing like peanut butter to chocolate. (Sorry, but just before this I opened the freezer to find a Reese’s cup tucked away for a future craving!) Oh! And I loved the way the ending tied everything together! This one’s a keeper.
“Every one of us limps alone!”
“He couldn’t remember where he had come from, and ultimately he didn’t know where he would go. But he could look back without regret on the time in between, his life, with a full-throated laugh and utter amazement.”
The novel is set in an alpine village during the mid-1900s, and the landscape is evoked beautifully. Like Egger, I felt the awesomeness of the mountains – both the majesty and the danger. A quiet, simple man, Egger respects the natural world and thrives in it. Yet when progress makes its inevitable way to the region, he doesn’t shrink from it but becomes a part of it. What I admired about the approach taken by the author is that he doesn’t offer the reader a “grumpy old man” cliché. Instead Egger is a man who continues to respect nature, while realizing the need for progress.
“In his heart there was a curious sensation of expansiveness and pride. He felt that he was part of something big, something that far exceeded his own powers (including the power of his imagination), and which he thought he could see would spell progress, not just for life in the valley but also, somehow, for the whole of humankind.”
There’s not an ounce of sentimentality to this story. I’m most impressed when a story makes such an impact without resorting to this. It could easily have gone that route if Robert Seethaler was that kind of writer. After all, Egger’s life is a difficult one. He was orphaned at an early age and sent to live with an abusive relative. He was a behind-the-scenes sort of guy; not a leader but hard-working. He had one true love, served in World War II, became a prisoner-of-war, and was a victim of nature’s capacity to do harm. In his old age, he looks back on his past not with nostalgia or regret or anger, but with a quiet contemplation. He also goes through a brief period of what many of us have likely gone through at least once: what if there is something more out there for us?
“A man needed to lift up his eyes and look as far as possible beyond his own small, limited patch of ground.”
Lovers of John Williams’ Stoner or Wendell Berry’s Port William folk will admire this book. Don’t expect much action here or you will be disappointed. This is my second outing with Seethaler and I’m a huge fan. But then again, I take to quiet reflective writing like peanut butter to chocolate. (Sorry, but just before this I opened the freezer to find a Reese’s cup tucked away for a future craving!) Oh! And I loved the way the ending tied everything together! This one’s a keeper.
“Every one of us limps alone!”
June 22, 2026
UN CUORE SEMPLICE
Ho letto diversi buoni interventi su questo libro, così convincenti che mi hanno spinto a leggerlo.
Si è addirittura tirato in ballo Stoner, perché anche qui si parla di uomini non illustri, di non eroi, di persone qualunque. (Povero Stoner, farà la fine di Holden, tirato in ballo a ogni battito adolescenziale…)
Ma alla fine della lettura (e, purtroppo, quasi fin dal principio) non sono riuscito a condividerli.
A me, questo breve romanzo, questa novella è sembrata soprattutto una specie di favola allegorica con un qualche intento pedagogico (edificante) e moraleggiante. Una sorta di apologo.
E io non vado affatto d’accordo con tal genere letterario.
Seethaler fa attraversare ad Andreas Egger, il suo protagonista, buona parte del Novecento, partendo proprio dall’inizio: nel racconto della sua vita si vede quella valle man mano trasformarsi, l’arrivo della funivia, e della seggiovia, dell’elettricità, dei motori, delle automobili, del turismo.
Hitler è un’eco lontana, ma alla guerra l’omino ci va perché considera l’esercito una buona alternativa alla sua esistenza di quel periodo: accumula solo due mesi di guerra, ma ben otto di prigionia in un campo sovietico.
Novello Giobbe, non protesta né sviluppa rancore mai, nè quando gli muore la madre alla tenera età di quattro anni, né quando il contadino che lo “adotta”, cognato della defunta, lo picchia selvaggiamente fino a spezzargli una gamba e renderlo zoppo a vita, e perfino neppure quando l’amore della sua vita…
Il progresso del secolo breve è raccontato, a me sembra, per far brillare, in contraltare, il bel tempo che fu, quella sorta di “uomo semplice” che Seethaler ha scelto come protagonista, la natura incontaminata - che chissà mai perché va sempre bene, rimane sempre bella e pura anche quando causa incidenti e morti – il silenzio in contrapposizione al cicaleccio, al frastuono dei motori, ai rumori derivati dal turismo – ma il silenzio qui è anche solitudine profonda e isolamento totale.
Chissà mai perché questo “buon selvaggio” con tutte le sciagure e le sventure che gli succedono, una vita immerso nel calore del proprio sudore, alla fine reputa d’aver vissuto bene, pienamente, con soddisfazione:
Non aveva mai vacillato nella sua fede in Dio e la morte non gli faceva paura. Non riusciva a ricordare da dove fosse venuto, e adesso che era alla fine non sapeva dove sarebbe andato. Ma al tempo di mezzo poteva guardare senza rimpianti, con un'ampia risata e un'unica, grande meraviglia.
Ho letto diversi buoni interventi su questo libro, così convincenti che mi hanno spinto a leggerlo.
Si è addirittura tirato in ballo Stoner, perché anche qui si parla di uomini non illustri, di non eroi, di persone qualunque. (Povero Stoner, farà la fine di Holden, tirato in ballo a ogni battito adolescenziale…)
Ma alla fine della lettura (e, purtroppo, quasi fin dal principio) non sono riuscito a condividerli.
A me, questo breve romanzo, questa novella è sembrata soprattutto una specie di favola allegorica con un qualche intento pedagogico (edificante) e moraleggiante. Una sorta di apologo.
E io non vado affatto d’accordo con tal genere letterario.
Seethaler fa attraversare ad Andreas Egger, il suo protagonista, buona parte del Novecento, partendo proprio dall’inizio: nel racconto della sua vita si vede quella valle man mano trasformarsi, l’arrivo della funivia, e della seggiovia, dell’elettricità, dei motori, delle automobili, del turismo.
Hitler è un’eco lontana, ma alla guerra l’omino ci va perché considera l’esercito una buona alternativa alla sua esistenza di quel periodo: accumula solo due mesi di guerra, ma ben otto di prigionia in un campo sovietico.
Novello Giobbe, non protesta né sviluppa rancore mai, nè quando gli muore la madre alla tenera età di quattro anni, né quando il contadino che lo “adotta”, cognato della defunta, lo picchia selvaggiamente fino a spezzargli una gamba e renderlo zoppo a vita, e perfino neppure quando l’amore della sua vita…
Il progresso del secolo breve è raccontato, a me sembra, per far brillare, in contraltare, il bel tempo che fu, quella sorta di “uomo semplice” che Seethaler ha scelto come protagonista, la natura incontaminata - che chissà mai perché va sempre bene, rimane sempre bella e pura anche quando causa incidenti e morti – il silenzio in contrapposizione al cicaleccio, al frastuono dei motori, ai rumori derivati dal turismo – ma il silenzio qui è anche solitudine profonda e isolamento totale.
Chissà mai perché questo “buon selvaggio” con tutte le sciagure e le sventure che gli succedono, una vita immerso nel calore del proprio sudore, alla fine reputa d’aver vissuto bene, pienamente, con soddisfazione:
Non aveva mai vacillato nella sua fede in Dio e la morte non gli faceva paura. Non riusciva a ricordare da dove fosse venuto, e adesso che era alla fine non sapeva dove sarebbe andato. Ma al tempo di mezzo poteva guardare senza rimpianti, con un'ampia risata e un'unica, grande meraviglia.
August 13, 2018
نصٌ آسر، وناعم، تنزلق على سطحهِ بسرعةٍ يمكن أن تخيفك أحيانًا. تشعر بأنه يقبض هشاشة الحياة بيدين حريريّتين، يجعل القصة تسيلُ ببساطة ويخيفك هذا التلاشي البطيء لحكايةٍ مثل هذه، لحياةٍ كاملة.
February 4, 2026
Titlul german al cărții, Ein ganzes Leben, mi se pare ironic. Viața „completă” a lui Andreas Egger (protagonistul romanului) încape într-o sută șaizeci de pagini.
Voi spune în grabă că Robert Seethaler (n. 1966, prozator, scenarist și actor austriac) are invenție epică și un ochi deprins să remarce grotescul (și sordidul) cotidian. Citiți, de exemplu, episodul înmormîntării Mamei-mari de la paginile 25-27...
Eroul romanului, Andreas Egger, nu este vreun filosof, abia dacă știe carte, nu ține prelegeri sofisticate (nici nu acceptă conversațiile despre „mersul lumii”), trăiește pur și simplu (sau este trăit de) ceea ce i se întîmplă. Și i se întîmplă destule... Ceea ce m-a intrigat în această carte este atitudinea protagonistului. Egger este mereu egal cu sine. Nu știm prea bine ce gîndește, ce simte, cum vede ceea ce i se întîmplă. Nu știm aproape nimic despre el, deși la sfîrșitul romanului ar trebui să știm totul. Încă o dată, titlul este ironic. Andreas Egger rămîne un personaj opac.
Dacă am vedea în acest roman o „tragedie umană”, tare mă tem că am greși. În tragedie, eroul încalcă o lege, contestă o autoritate, devine excesiv și excesul lui atrage pedeapsa. Dar Egger este un inocent. În toate sensurile cuvîntului. Nu poate fi caracterizat decît negativ, printr-o succesiune de nu-uri: nu ripostează (cu o singură excepție, cînd pleacă de la fermierul Hubert), nu-și plînge de milă, nu afurisește nici un zeu, nu dă vina pe destin, nu se consideră un damnat. Într-un cuvînt, este un personaj „obișnuit”.
De regulă, prozatorii preferă „cazuri” ieșite din comun, indivizi spectaculoși, nesupuși, rebeli. Egger nu are nimic dintr-un insurgent. Primește totul – și puținele bucurii, și necazurile – cu o liniște aproape neverosimilă. Cînd cade, o ia de la capăt. Iar și iar. Cu o tenacitate de cîrtiță. Nu-și pune întrebări, nu încearcă răspunsuri, îndură fără să crîcnească, așa cum îndura în copilărie bătăile fermierului Hubert.
Îi șoptește odată Mariei: „Un bărbat trebuie să ridice ochii pentru a privi cît mai departe în zare, dincolo de peticul îngust de pămînt pe care-l muncește” (p.41). Nimic mai adevărat! Dar declarația lui Egger nu va avea urmări. Bărbatul nu privește niciodată în zare. Mi-e greu să spun de ce...
Citiți acest roman. Măcar pentru a cunoaște un personaj cu totul neobișnuit, aproape imposibil de priceput...
P. S. Din păcate, se traduce tot mai puțin din literaturile de limbă germană. În FAZ, am citit un top al romanelor redactate în ultimii 30 de ani de prozatorii germani / austrieci / elvețieni. M-am uitat la el ca mîța în calendar. Nu auzisem de autori, nu le citisem cărțile...
Voi spune în grabă că Robert Seethaler (n. 1966, prozator, scenarist și actor austriac) are invenție epică și un ochi deprins să remarce grotescul (și sordidul) cotidian. Citiți, de exemplu, episodul înmormîntării Mamei-mari de la paginile 25-27...
Eroul romanului, Andreas Egger, nu este vreun filosof, abia dacă știe carte, nu ține prelegeri sofisticate (nici nu acceptă conversațiile despre „mersul lumii”), trăiește pur și simplu (sau este trăit de) ceea ce i se întîmplă. Și i se întîmplă destule... Ceea ce m-a intrigat în această carte este atitudinea protagonistului. Egger este mereu egal cu sine. Nu știm prea bine ce gîndește, ce simte, cum vede ceea ce i se întîmplă. Nu știm aproape nimic despre el, deși la sfîrșitul romanului ar trebui să știm totul. Încă o dată, titlul este ironic. Andreas Egger rămîne un personaj opac.
Dacă am vedea în acest roman o „tragedie umană”, tare mă tem că am greși. În tragedie, eroul încalcă o lege, contestă o autoritate, devine excesiv și excesul lui atrage pedeapsa. Dar Egger este un inocent. În toate sensurile cuvîntului. Nu poate fi caracterizat decît negativ, printr-o succesiune de nu-uri: nu ripostează (cu o singură excepție, cînd pleacă de la fermierul Hubert), nu-și plînge de milă, nu afurisește nici un zeu, nu dă vina pe destin, nu se consideră un damnat. Într-un cuvînt, este un personaj „obișnuit”.
De regulă, prozatorii preferă „cazuri” ieșite din comun, indivizi spectaculoși, nesupuși, rebeli. Egger nu are nimic dintr-un insurgent. Primește totul – și puținele bucurii, și necazurile – cu o liniște aproape neverosimilă. Cînd cade, o ia de la capăt. Iar și iar. Cu o tenacitate de cîrtiță. Nu-și pune întrebări, nu încearcă răspunsuri, îndură fără să crîcnească, așa cum îndura în copilărie bătăile fermierului Hubert.
Îi șoptește odată Mariei: „Un bărbat trebuie să ridice ochii pentru a privi cît mai departe în zare, dincolo de peticul îngust de pămînt pe care-l muncește” (p.41). Nimic mai adevărat! Dar declarația lui Egger nu va avea urmări. Bărbatul nu privește niciodată în zare. Mi-e greu să spun de ce...
Citiți acest roman. Măcar pentru a cunoaște un personaj cu totul neobișnuit, aproape imposibil de priceput...
P. S. Din păcate, se traduce tot mai puțin din literaturile de limbă germană. În FAZ, am citit un top al romanelor redactate în ultimii 30 de ani de prozatorii germani / austrieci / elvețieni. M-am uitat la el ca mîța în calendar. Nu auzisem de autori, nu le citisem cărțile...
January 24, 2024
- رواية بسيطة عن انسان بسيط يتيم يصل لإحدى القرى الألبية، حيث يعيش ويعمل من دون كلل، من دون كلام. يمضي معظم عمره فيها متنقلاً من عمل لآخر عبر احداث صغيرة تخلو من الدهشة كما اعتدنا، حتى الأحداث التي ترآى انها ستكون مفصلية مرّت مرور الكرام!
- شخصية "اندرياس إيجر" شخصية متواضعة وبسيطة (هو ليس بطل والعالم يدور من حوله!)، صلبة جسدياً، قليلة الكلام، تسير بالفطرة بهدوء ورصانة دونما تعقيدات كثيرة ذلك لان إيجر يتكيف مع ما تقدمه الطبيعة انكان عملاً، او حباً، او حرباً او موتاً فلا فرق!
- الرواية رومانسية انطباعية، حيث تنقل للقارئ سكينة الجبال ونقاءها، وتحفزه لتلك الحياة الهادئة بعيداً عن الضوضاء وبين احضان الطبيعة الأم.
- شخصية "اندرياس إيجر" شخصية متواضعة وبسيطة (هو ليس بطل والعالم يدور من حوله!)، صلبة جسدياً، قليلة الكلام، تسير بالفطرة بهدوء ورصانة دونما تعقيدات كثيرة ذلك لان إيجر يتكيف مع ما تقدمه الطبيعة انكان عملاً، او حباً، او حرباً او موتاً فلا فرق!
- الرواية رومانسية انطباعية، حيث تنقل للقارئ سكينة الجبال ونقاءها، وتحفزه لتلك الحياة الهادئة بعيداً عن الضوضاء وبين احضان الطبيعة الأم.
الموت ينتمي للحياة، مثلما ينتمي العفن للخبز
August 24, 2017
Set in an Austrian mountain valley, Andreas Egger lives a simple existence. He is thoughtful, although his father was unkind to him, and he is kind and gentle.
In his younger years, he worked farms, and then as modern conveniences began to approach even this small hidden valley, he worked in construction of cable cars to lure tourists. He loves and is loved in return. After his youth is gone, and after he’s once been rejected for service, he’s sent off to war. Endures hardships.
Returning to the valley after captivity, so much has changed. His world has changed, but also the world, his neighbors. The to and fro of the valley has changed and people are sequestered in their homes, watching this creation that came into being when he was who knows where, and these new lights, electricity! But, he’s safe. He’s in his valley. He appreciates his life as it is.
The days pass, slowly in an almost spiritual reverence, although his veneration is for everything. The beauty of Nature, the gift of awakening each day, the gift of fatigue at the end of the day. The sense of having a purpose, even if he’s not quite sure what it is. He believes sharing his love of nature might be his purpose, and so he begins to act as a guide for tourists, and for a time, he is content.
It feels as though this was written with great consideration for each word, each sentence. There’s nothing extraneous. There’s some joy, although his joy is without highs or lows, what we might view as contentment. He is appreciative of a kind word or deed sent his way, a gesture of the smallest kindness is noticed and appreciated.
And so, this is his life, all these small moments that add up over time to become a life. Time passes slowly at first, but then it seems to pass like a boulder rolling down a hillside, picking up momentum as it approaches the end.
Beautiful in its simplicity, atmospheric, lovely.
Pub Date: 13 September 2016
Many thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NetGalley and to the author, Robert Seethaler for providing me with an advanced copy
January 21, 2021
Robert Seethaler can tell and write fantastically and his language is clear and beautiful. But why doesn´t he look deep into his figure, why does he remain so strange and far away from his Protagonist Egger? I´ve waited for a depth throughout his whole novel, but unfortunately it didn´t happened. This book was highly praised and I had been looking forward to it, but sadly I expected too much. Because of this, I stopped reading the book after page seventy and started reading all over again to give the story a second chance, especially because I didn´t want to give justice to the author. Unfortunately it didn´t touch me again.
January 17, 2026
What a beautiful meditation on life experienced through the life of Andreas Egger. “In his life he, too, like all people, had harboured ideas and dreams. Some he had fulfilled for himself; some had been granted to him. Many things had remained out of reach, or barely had he reached them than they were torn from his hands again.” This quote captures this brief novel perfectly.
There is such beauty and healing in stillness and nature. Living in a society that inundates citizens about consuming, this novel was a nice reminder to ground oneself in a mindset to focus on and be content with having what you need.
Egger lived through war and the beginnings of the modernization of his small village. He worked hard doing various jobs. No job was too big or too small. I loved the people he met along the way, but especially Thomas Mattl and Marie.
I like to learn about other culture’s views and I liked learning about the story of Death as The Cold Lady. Much nicer than The Grim Reaper! I loved the author’s writing-tender and gorgeous. His description of life, love, and death will stay with me for some time
There is such beauty and healing in stillness and nature. Living in a society that inundates citizens about consuming, this novel was a nice reminder to ground oneself in a mindset to focus on and be content with having what you need.
Egger lived through war and the beginnings of the modernization of his small village. He worked hard doing various jobs. No job was too big or too small. I loved the people he met along the way, but especially Thomas Mattl and Marie.
I like to learn about other culture’s views and I liked learning about the story of Death as The Cold Lady. Much nicer than The Grim Reaper! I loved the author’s writing-tender and gorgeous. His description of life, love, and death will stay with me for some time
December 28, 2019
قراءات ٢٠١٩ جميعها في كفة، وقراءات الأيام الأخيرة منها في كفة.
دي مثلًا رواية جميلة وهادئة ورقيقة وبسيطة وخفيفة على الروح. عنوانها يناسبها تمامًا "حياة كاملة ومكثفة في ١٤٠ صفحة فقط"
دي مثلًا رواية جميلة وهادئة ورقيقة وبسيطة وخفيفة على الروح. عنوانها يناسبها تمامًا "حياة كاملة ومكثفة في ١٤٠ صفحة فقط"
December 8, 2017
"Scars are like years, he said: one follows another and it’s all of them together that make a person who they are."
"My thigh hurts a bit, but that’s all. Now the two of us can limp down to the valley side by side.’
‘No,’ said Egger, and stood up. ‘Every one of us limps alone!'
And that is what this book is. The story of a man limping through his life. His is a life that most of us lead. With a number of uneventful years between two eventful memories. The eventful itself being either something ordinary yet powerful because it touches one personally - wars and accidents, loves and could-have-been-loves, deaths and marriages (the last one - childbirth doesn't occur in story) or something great but that only one experiences from far - like watching men first walk on moon.
And, in between, one lives through years of solitude and work, of delusions and confusions of thinking about one's past - about what was and what could have been. Eggar, our protagonist doesn't succumb down to that third misery of 'what should have been' - and thus finds fulfilment and dignity even in his empty life. Not the life of Avengers or Harry Potter or Doctor Who. And in this case, he did not even have a family for long that he could love and feel loved, couldn't leave his neighborhood except for war and work, did not have the consolation of enjoying arts and books; yet Eggar is not complaining.
January 2, 2019
رواية رائعة عن التأقلم والإنجاز ، لست بحاجة الى الأموال والإمكانيات التكنولوجية لتحقيق إنجاز ما.
فحياة بطل الرواية بكاملها والتي كانت في قربة صغيرة في جبال الآلب حيث الطبيعة القاسية، فقد نجا وتأقلم في طفولته القاسية وعمل وانجز ارضه وكوخه في وسط جبال الآلب الرائعة والجمال الساحر في وصف اروع من رائع لهذا الجمال ، الشتاء القاسي والربيع المزهر والصيف الأجمل وذوبان الجليد .
شارك في إنجاز التلفريك وشق الطرق لتزحف المدنية البغيضة الى قريته. وشارك في الحرب وتأقلم معها، وتأقلم كأسير.
وبفطرته اصبح دليلا سياحيا لمعرفته للطبيعة والجبال عن ظهر قلب.
مات وهو راض عن نفسه وعن إنجازاته ومساهمته.
رواية بأسلوب سلس وهاديء وبسيط
فحياة بطل الرواية بكاملها والتي كانت في قربة صغيرة في جبال الآلب حيث الطبيعة القاسية، فقد نجا وتأقلم في طفولته القاسية وعمل وانجز ارضه وكوخه في وسط جبال الآلب الرائعة والجمال الساحر في وصف اروع من رائع لهذا الجمال ، الشتاء القاسي والربيع المزهر والصيف الأجمل وذوبان الجليد .
شارك في إنجاز التلفريك وشق الطرق لتزحف المدنية البغيضة الى قريته. وشارك في الحرب وتأقلم معها، وتأقلم كأسير.
وبفطرته اصبح دليلا سياحيا لمعرفته للطبيعة والجبال عن ظهر قلب.
مات وهو راض عن نفسه وعن إنجازاته ومساهمته.
رواية بأسلوب سلس وهاديء وبسيط
November 12, 2025
Robert Seethaler's slim novel A Whole Life strips down the life of Andreas Egger to its essence, detailing its key elements to show his life in its entirety, a life that is full and well lived. Like most lives it contains sorrow and pain, hard work, love, satisfaction, and periods of contentment. I see the history of the 1900s unfold in the background, subtly influencing Egger's life and contributing to the story.
The storytelling is deliberate and evenly paced, easily conveying Seethaler's message. While Egger's life is simple, there are moments of intense drama.
One theme that permeates the novel is the question do we choose life or does life choose us? I see Egger dance with this question throughout the novel as he reacts to circumstances, those he can control and those he can not.
"Later on he recalled the years after the avalanche as an empty, silent time that only slowly, almost imperceptibly, began to fill with life again."
Seethaler's prose is spacious and light, at times lyrical, giving it a deceptively simple feel. Spare yet evocative, it creates the feeling that I am having these experiences right alongside Egger. And I am drawn ever deeper into Egger's thoughts.
"as she leaned forward to put it on the table she touched his upper arm with a fold of her blouse. The touch was barely perceptible, yet it left a subtle pain that seemed to sink deeper into his flesh with every passing second."
Set in the Austrian Alps, nature plays a big role in Egger's life. Seethaler's prose exquisitely captures Egger's relationship with the land.
"And sometimes if he lay there long enough, he had the impression that beneath his back the earth was softly rising and falling, an in moments like these he knew that the mountains breathed."
I appreciate Egger's physicality. I tend to be up in my head more than it serves me, and I constantly work to keep myself in my physical body. His connection to the land grounds him and helps him survive.
In the early 1970s Egger stands at the spot where he worked 40 years earlier and reflects back:
"He had already been so long in the world: he had seen it change and seem to spin faster with every passing year, and he felt like a remnant from some long-buried time, a thorny weed still stretching up, for as long as it possibly could, towards the sun.”
So Egger continues his dance and chooses life for just a little bit longer.
Charlotte Collins also deserves praise here for her sensitive and nuanced translation.
Group read with the amazing K and Jennifer.
Their reviews: K's
Jennifer's
Publication 2014; Translation 2015
The storytelling is deliberate and evenly paced, easily conveying Seethaler's message. While Egger's life is simple, there are moments of intense drama.
One theme that permeates the novel is the question do we choose life or does life choose us? I see Egger dance with this question throughout the novel as he reacts to circumstances, those he can control and those he can not.
"Later on he recalled the years after the avalanche as an empty, silent time that only slowly, almost imperceptibly, began to fill with life again."
Seethaler's prose is spacious and light, at times lyrical, giving it a deceptively simple feel. Spare yet evocative, it creates the feeling that I am having these experiences right alongside Egger. And I am drawn ever deeper into Egger's thoughts.
"as she leaned forward to put it on the table she touched his upper arm with a fold of her blouse. The touch was barely perceptible, yet it left a subtle pain that seemed to sink deeper into his flesh with every passing second."
Set in the Austrian Alps, nature plays a big role in Egger's life. Seethaler's prose exquisitely captures Egger's relationship with the land.
"And sometimes if he lay there long enough, he had the impression that beneath his back the earth was softly rising and falling, an in moments like these he knew that the mountains breathed."
I appreciate Egger's physicality. I tend to be up in my head more than it serves me, and I constantly work to keep myself in my physical body. His connection to the land grounds him and helps him survive.
In the early 1970s Egger stands at the spot where he worked 40 years earlier and reflects back:
"He had already been so long in the world: he had seen it change and seem to spin faster with every passing year, and he felt like a remnant from some long-buried time, a thorny weed still stretching up, for as long as it possibly could, towards the sun.”
So Egger continues his dance and chooses life for just a little bit longer.
Charlotte Collins also deserves praise here for her sensitive and nuanced translation.
Group read with the amazing K and Jennifer.
Their reviews: K's
Jennifer's
Publication 2014; Translation 2015
November 6, 2025
Do you remember that film from the 90s with Harvey Keitel where he took the same photo of his storefront every year? It was a smoke shop, and the film was called Smoke. There’s something about capturing subtle changes throughout time to a single place, and a single man, that reminded me of that in A Whole Life.
Seethaler conveys the life of a reticent man in a novella of few words. He gives us the fullness of all the components with only necessary nuggets, very much the way his protagonist, Egger, lives. There are no chapters or sections, only breaks where time travels smoothly and quickly, creating a flowing cohesiveness. The prose is poetic and the point-of-view never feels claustrophobic because although it’s interior, Egger never let’s us lose touch with the surrounding natural world. It felt like a positive view of life, one well lived by a man who did his best with what he had. What I loved most was the lack of judgment from him about all that happened: it just was, then it changed and he adapted, all the while staying true to himself. His presence is a steady one, not at all without emotion, but letting that rise up, wash over him and pass.
We follow Andreas Egger from the age of four until his passing in mostly the same valley in the Austrian mountains. He is part of these mountains, he breathes with them, and adapts by asking how to best use himself as mid-century industrialization invades the land. He experiences the best and the worst of a small life with as much grace as a Zen Master. Egger is not without people and relationships, but his longest and most intimate one is with this place. He is neither big nor small in the community, but man-sized and solid. He claims his right to be here by contribution. He has loved. He has suffered and saved, shown courage and cowardice. He never wastes his time shaking his fists at God, nor does he suppress, indulge in, or manipulate his pain. There is a sense of pure right-action—even in hurt, even in a moment of regret.
I couldn’t help but notice how spacious Seethaler’s prose felt after reading William Trevor. Although I consider both to be written efficiently, this was lightness to Trevor’s density, a silence and stillness of mind between the lines, rather than being pregnant with possibilities. There was so much here about silence for Egger that it reminded me of Denis Johnson’s, Train Dreams. There’s also a poetic frame for Egger and the reader to look back through time, take stock, and find a surprising will to live. This frame begins with a scene that reminded me of the start of The Life and Times of Michael K, by J. M. Coetzee. I’ve also heard comparisons of this to John Williams,’ Stoner, which I get because of the focus on one man’s life with a quiet interiority, but Stoner takes place surrounded by people, and the actions are small; in A Whole Life there are big dramas, but told with the same quiet as the small ones, and readers can’t help but feel the tenderness.
“He had already been so long in the world: he had seen it change and seem to spin faster with every passing year, and he felt like a remnant from some long-buried time, a thorny weed still stretching up, for as long as it possibly could, towards the sun.”
I read this with K and Lisa, and our conversational flow made this one of the best group-reads I’ve done. Here are their reviews:
K: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lisa: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4.5
Seethaler conveys the life of a reticent man in a novella of few words. He gives us the fullness of all the components with only necessary nuggets, very much the way his protagonist, Egger, lives. There are no chapters or sections, only breaks where time travels smoothly and quickly, creating a flowing cohesiveness. The prose is poetic and the point-of-view never feels claustrophobic because although it’s interior, Egger never let’s us lose touch with the surrounding natural world. It felt like a positive view of life, one well lived by a man who did his best with what he had. What I loved most was the lack of judgment from him about all that happened: it just was, then it changed and he adapted, all the while staying true to himself. His presence is a steady one, not at all without emotion, but letting that rise up, wash over him and pass.
We follow Andreas Egger from the age of four until his passing in mostly the same valley in the Austrian mountains. He is part of these mountains, he breathes with them, and adapts by asking how to best use himself as mid-century industrialization invades the land. He experiences the best and the worst of a small life with as much grace as a Zen Master. Egger is not without people and relationships, but his longest and most intimate one is with this place. He is neither big nor small in the community, but man-sized and solid. He claims his right to be here by contribution. He has loved. He has suffered and saved, shown courage and cowardice. He never wastes his time shaking his fists at God, nor does he suppress, indulge in, or manipulate his pain. There is a sense of pure right-action—even in hurt, even in a moment of regret.
I couldn’t help but notice how spacious Seethaler’s prose felt after reading William Trevor. Although I consider both to be written efficiently, this was lightness to Trevor’s density, a silence and stillness of mind between the lines, rather than being pregnant with possibilities. There was so much here about silence for Egger that it reminded me of Denis Johnson’s, Train Dreams. There’s also a poetic frame for Egger and the reader to look back through time, take stock, and find a surprising will to live. This frame begins with a scene that reminded me of the start of The Life and Times of Michael K, by J. M. Coetzee. I’ve also heard comparisons of this to John Williams,’ Stoner, which I get because of the focus on one man’s life with a quiet interiority, but Stoner takes place surrounded by people, and the actions are small; in A Whole Life there are big dramas, but told with the same quiet as the small ones, and readers can’t help but feel the tenderness.
“He had already been so long in the world: he had seen it change and seem to spin faster with every passing year, and he felt like a remnant from some long-buried time, a thorny weed still stretching up, for as long as it possibly could, towards the sun.”
I read this with K and Lisa, and our conversational flow made this one of the best group-reads I’ve done. Here are their reviews:
K: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lisa: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4.5
Read
October 21, 2016The title of Robert Seethaler’s novel is very eloquent - there is a whole life between the covers of this powerful little book. The life of the title is that of Andreas Egger, a quiet man whose name evokes ancient trees and remote valleys lying in the lee of mountains. The power in the story comes from Egger being at a complete remove from the modern world in spite of his being directly implicated in allowing the modern world, via cable cars, access the remote and ageless places he embodies not only in his name but in his entire being.
July 28, 2022
Can a whole life be condensed in barely more than a hundred pages? If it’s written by a master with Robert Seethaler’s caliber, it can.
And the result is a brief novel with an immense emotional impact.
Set in an Alpine village at the beginning of the 20th century, an omniscient narrator tells the story of Andreas Egger.
Orphaned at an early age, abused by his adoptive father and loyal to his one and only love Marie, Egger’s life doesn’t’ differ much from those lived by many in his time: a life of physical work, humble expectations and a senseless war that will steal eight years of his time. Egger doesn’t have a big plan other than surviving.
What makes Seethaler’s character extraordinary is his quiet stoicism. He doesn’t believe in a superior God; he is guided by nature, by the inner force of the mountains, the seasons and the rhythms of the extreme environment that surrounds him. Egger creates his place in the world at peace with its natural essence, not questioning the presence of mankind in it but acting his role only when called upon. Otherwise, he is a solitary man who accepts his lot without complaining and with a practical air that shies away sentimentality.
Of an uttermost concision and pulchritude, this is a refined novella that reminded me of John Edward Williams’ serene narrative combined with the otherworldly touch of Nordic fables. It’s a pithy treatise about the meaning and the meaninglessness of existence, beating at the pulse of what it means to be human, a mere passerby in the timeless frame of love and death.
Books such as this strengthen the sprit and act like the perfect antidote against the unease of modern times. Pick it up, sit back and allow yourself to be carried away like a leaf blown by the wind of something much greater than a life, much greater than us.
And the result is a brief novel with an immense emotional impact.
Set in an Alpine village at the beginning of the 20th century, an omniscient narrator tells the story of Andreas Egger.
Orphaned at an early age, abused by his adoptive father and loyal to his one and only love Marie, Egger’s life doesn’t’ differ much from those lived by many in his time: a life of physical work, humble expectations and a senseless war that will steal eight years of his time. Egger doesn’t have a big plan other than surviving.
What makes Seethaler’s character extraordinary is his quiet stoicism. He doesn’t believe in a superior God; he is guided by nature, by the inner force of the mountains, the seasons and the rhythms of the extreme environment that surrounds him. Egger creates his place in the world at peace with its natural essence, not questioning the presence of mankind in it but acting his role only when called upon. Otherwise, he is a solitary man who accepts his lot without complaining and with a practical air that shies away sentimentality.
Of an uttermost concision and pulchritude, this is a refined novella that reminded me of John Edward Williams’ serene narrative combined with the otherworldly touch of Nordic fables. It’s a pithy treatise about the meaning and the meaninglessness of existence, beating at the pulse of what it means to be human, a mere passerby in the timeless frame of love and death.
Books such as this strengthen the sprit and act like the perfect antidote against the unease of modern times. Pick it up, sit back and allow yourself to be carried away like a leaf blown by the wind of something much greater than a life, much greater than us.
Read
September 28, 2020" إلى أين ؟...
حتى المحطة الأخيرة، أبعد من ذلك ليس ممكناً...."
ثمة لحظات فارقة في حياتنا هى بذاتها حياة كاملة....
تلك اللحظات التي عاشها "اندرياس إيجر" جميعها تقاسم شيئاً ما ألا وهو توقف قلبه لوهلة.....
لا تظن ان القلب يتوقف لحظة وقوعه فى الحب فحسب، لا ..بل عندما يداهمه الخوف والاحساس بالفقد ، عندما يخطو الخطوة الأولى في درب جديد من دروب الحياة..
عندما تعي كونك وحيداً..، وتحدث نفسك عما كانت الحياة ستؤول إليه وفقاً لأحلامك...
أي لحظة من تلك اللحظات يمكن أن تعد بذاتها حياة كاملة..
ما بالك لو ان بطلنا هاهنا عايشها جميعها ، تراها حياة واحدة أم حيوات كاملة ؟!...
حتى المحطة الأخيرة، أبعد من ذلك ليس ممكناً...."
ثمة لحظات فارقة في حياتنا هى بذاتها حياة كاملة....
تلك اللحظات التي عاشها "اندرياس إيجر" جميعها تقاسم شيئاً ما ألا وهو توقف قلبه لوهلة.....
لا تظن ان القلب يتوقف لحظة وقوعه فى الحب فحسب، لا ..بل عندما يداهمه الخوف والاحساس بالفقد ، عندما يخطو الخطوة الأولى في درب جديد من دروب الحياة..
عندما تعي كونك وحيداً..، وتحدث نفسك عما كانت الحياة ستؤول إليه وفقاً لأحلامك...
أي لحظة من تلك اللحظات يمكن أن تعد بذاتها حياة كاملة..
ما بالك لو ان بطلنا هاهنا عايشها جميعها ، تراها حياة واحدة أم حيوات كاملة ؟!...
Read
August 13, 2019I read this story in a morning, mostly before breakfast - it was filling enough even if not quite breakfast shaped.
It is the story of a life almost from beginning up to the end, a life almost completely lived inside one mountain valley, almost without intimacy with any other person.
The central character, Andreas Egger, spends most of his time in one place, doing a very limited range of manual work, his life is extremely basic on a material level - most of it he spends living in various hovels with barely a stick of furniture, at one point in the story Egger is suddenly aware that it is a long time since his jacket was washed - we can wonder too how long it was since he had a wash himself.
I wonder how far there is an element of parody to the story, we can read the valley as Austria, constricted, navel gazing, dependent on outsiders to be pushed into change, smelly, rather lonely. The story certainly is an ironic take on the ideal of Heimat, and I'll point out in passing that the Austrian Seethaler lives in Berlin - as far from the Austrian mountain valleys as you can get while remaining in the German speaking world. Family here is virtually irrelevant - an encumbrance. Faith in God is something that Egger is glad to have avoided. The valley and valley life become dependent on tourism but these outsiders are also just annoying the only incidents that stick in Egger's mind are incidents of their silly behaviour. Perhaps something has been smoothed over in translation but the valley does not have even a distinctive linguistic culture .
Further everywhere that Egger lives is prison like, maybe because it actually is a prison camp or because he is subject to punitive and severe beatings or because he dwells in simple cells in self imposed solitary isolation. One grows into such a regime - see what happens to him when he leaves it late in life. Also we see him shy away from attempts by other people to get closer to him. The beaten child is the father of the isolated man as Wordsworth did not exactly observe.
In some way the landscape, or the idea of the landscape stands in for character and any interior life. The mountain slope is majestic but dangerous, cable cars climb up it, but don't substantially change it's character. The soil beneath the mountain is stony, if you have the patience to clear it perhaps you can grow a few vegetables there, and that I felt was Andreas Egger . And that was the book too, there's not much to it, but from the right angle it certainly feels like a whole life. Lyrical and funny in places, a lesson in consistent understatement.
It is the story of a life almost from beginning up to the end, a life almost completely lived inside one mountain valley, almost without intimacy with any other person.
The central character, Andreas Egger, spends most of his time in one place, doing a very limited range of manual work, his life is extremely basic on a material level - most of it he spends living in various hovels with barely a stick of furniture, at one point in the story Egger is suddenly aware that it is a long time since his jacket was washed - we can wonder too how long it was since he had a wash himself.
I wonder how far there is an element of parody to the story, we can read the valley as Austria, constricted, navel gazing, dependent on outsiders to be pushed into change, smelly, rather lonely. The story certainly is an ironic take on the ideal of Heimat, and I'll point out in passing that the Austrian Seethaler lives in Berlin - as far from the Austrian mountain valleys as you can get while remaining in the German speaking world. Family here is virtually irrelevant - an encumbrance. Faith in God is something that Egger is glad to have avoided. The valley and valley life become dependent on tourism but these outsiders are also just annoying the only incidents that stick in Egger's mind are incidents of their silly behaviour. Perhaps something has been smoothed over in translation but the valley does not have even a distinctive linguistic culture .
Further everywhere that Egger lives is prison like, maybe because it actually is a prison camp or because he is subject to punitive and severe beatings or because he dwells in simple cells in self imposed solitary isolation. One grows into such a regime - see what happens to him when he leaves it late in life. Also we see him shy away from attempts by other people to get closer to him. The beaten child is the father of the isolated man as Wordsworth did not exactly observe.
In some way the landscape, or the idea of the landscape stands in for character and any interior life. The mountain slope is majestic but dangerous, cable cars climb up it, but don't substantially change it's character. The soil beneath the mountain is stony, if you have the patience to clear it perhaps you can grow a few vegetables there, and that I felt was Andreas Egger . And that was the book too, there's not much to it, but from the right angle it certainly feels like a whole life. Lyrical and funny in places, a lesson in consistent understatement.
March 5, 2018
Bütün Bir Ömür Robert Seethaler ile ilk tanışmam. Man Booker Ödülü’nün finalistleri arasında yer almıştı ancak okumayı şu ana kadar beklettim. Bu hafta planlarımda Tütüncü Çırağını okumak olmasaydı daha da bekleyecekti ama iyi ki beklememiş. Sebebine gelince benim için çok kişisel olacak ama yine de paylaşmadan edemeyeceğim.
Efendim şöyle ki, Bütün Bir Ömür’e başlamadan son okuduğum kitap “Büyülü Dağ” idi. Kendisini okurken en sevdiğim filmlerden biri olan “Youth” dan sahneler sürekli kafamda canlanmıştı ve hatta artırıp yönetmeni Sorrentino’nun kesinlikle Büyülü Dağ’dan etkilenerek bu filmi çektiğini düşünmüş, herkese de bunu savunmuştum. Neyse şimdi fark ettim ki,
Robert Steehlar Youth’da oynamış. Acaba hangi roldeydi diye bir baktım, Luco Moroder imiş. Yani “dağcı” rolünde. Anımsadığım sahne şuydu filmden: Lena Ballinger(Rachel Weisz) ile konuşuyorlar. Youth’da otelde kalan ve sürekli küvetlerden çıkmayan ve küvetlerin içinde felsefi konuşma yapanlar için bir imada bulunuyor ve Lena’ya Küvetlerin Everest’ten daha tehlikeli olduğunu söylüyordu. Tıpkı Büyülü Dağ’da dönen sanatoryum sohbetleri gibi.
Yani anlayacağınız şu anda Bütün Bir Ömür, Youth ve Büyülü Dağ sarmal halde zihnimde dolaşmakta. Edebiyatın en güzel yanı da bu sanırım. Bazen birbirine hiç uymayan puzzle parçalarını birbirine uydurması bazense bir bütünü tekrar birleştirmek için acımadan dağıtması.
Neyse gelelim Bütün Bir Ömür’e. Dili sade ve çok akıcı. Betimlemeler sadelikle, neyi anlatmak için görevlendirildilerse, amacını aşmadan başarıyla işlerini bitirip sahneyi terk ediyorlar. Karakter Egger zihinde tertemiz canlanıyor. Hatta köşeleri hatları öyle net ki, coğrafyanın yaşanılanların bize uzaklığına rağmen Egger “bizden biri” oluyor.
Yazar kısacık bir kitapta bütün bir ömrü anlatmayı vaat ediyor ve başta verdiği söz tutuyor.
Kitapta Egger’ın bütün bir ömründeki kayıplar anlatılıyor ama alt katmanda doğanın da kayıpları var. Hatta bana yer yer doğa ve Egger’ın serüveni özdeşleşti gibi geldi. "Peki bütün bir ömürde sadece acılar ve kayıplar mı var?" sorusuna da kendimizce bir cevap bulduruyor Egger. "Eh öyle de diyebiliriz," diyor bana sorarsanız çünkü kitapta mutluluk anları kısacık ve sürekliliği yok. Tıpkı bizim de hayatlarımızda olduğu gibi.
Benim kitapta en başarılı bulduğum kısım, yazarın kolaylıkla ajite ederek nakavt yumruğunu çakabileceği bizi bir anda yere sereceği çoğu yeri hiç çaktırmadan böğre, bele, ard arda yumruklar şeklinde ince çalışarak direncimizi yavaş yavaş çökerterek uzun zamana yayarak yapması oldu. ☺ Hemen ölmedik, Egger ile birlikte direndik.
Kitabın ismini de öyle güzel bir anda çat diye karşımıza çıkardı ki, ben buna benzer bir hazzı bir de Zambra okurken “Bonzai” nin çıktığı anda yaşamıştım.
Uzun lafın kısası, kesinlikle okumanızı tavsiye ediyorum.
Ve yorumuma son verirken, şuraya kitap hakkında Robert Seethaler ile yapılan bir söyleşiden bir parça bırakmak istiyorum çünkü bence kitabı ve yazarın duruşunu inanılmaz güzel özetliyor. Bayıldım!
-Doğa kitabınızda önemli bir yere sahip. Soğuktan, kardan ölen karakterler… İlk sayfalarda Boynuzlu Hannes ölüm kendisine yaklaştıkça dağlara doğru kaçıyor. (Bu satırlar anında kedileri aklıma getirdi: Onlar da sanki ölüm yaklaşıyormuş gibi olduğunda karanlık ve ıssız yerlere koşar.) Sizce insanlar artık ait olmadıkları doğaya özlem mi duyuyor? Doğayla insan arasındaki ilişkiyi nasıl değerlendirirsiniz?
İnsanların birçoğu için doğa yalnızca özlem duyulan bir yer olarak vardır. Bu yüzden doğayı yüceltmekten hoşlanırlar. Ama bu durumu duygusallaştırmaya gerek yok. Dağlar orada duruyor ve hiçbir şey istemiyor. Güzel oldukları kadar çirkinler. Biz onları nasıl görmek istiyorsak öyleler. Uzaktan bakıldığında ya da hayalde canlandırıldıklarında son derece güzeller. Ama onlara yaklaşınca hele bir de tırmanmaya kalkınca huzursuz, meşakkatli, sert, rüzgârlı, soğuk ve bazen tehlikeli olduklarından bu düşünce hızla değişiyor. Doğanın asıl anlamı her zaman bir imtihandır. Aynı sevgi gibi.
-Peki kitapta bu imtihanı, ya da insanla doğanın çatışmasını mı okuyoruz?
Doğanın duyguları yoktur. Çığ insanlardan intikam almak için köyü basmıyor. Bu olay yalnızca karların fizik kurallarını takip etmesi sonucu meydana geliyor. Zehirli bir yılan kötü olduğundan sokmuyor insanları. O bir yılan hepsi bu.
-Kitabın kahramanı Egger, önce bacaklarını ardından evini ve eşini kaybediyor. Fakat tüm bu felaketlerden sonra tutumunda bir değişim görmüyoruz. Demek istediğim, bir dinî inanca yakınlaşmıyor ya da yüce bir motivasyona ihtiyaç duyuyor gibi görünmüyor. Tanrısız bir Eyüp gibi aslında. Yaşam motivasyonunu nereden buluyor? Platon’un, Phaidon’daki bir ifadesini hatırlıyorum: Bir şeyin kusurlu olarak algılanması için zihnimizde bir kusursuz tanımı olması gerekir. Egger’in kusursuz bir hayat arayışında olmayışını böyle bir tanıma sahip olmamasıyla bağdaştırabilir miyiz? Egger sıradan bir adam mıdır?
İyi bir noktaya değindiniz. Daha doğrusu Platon iyi bir noktaya değinmiş. Açıkçası ben böyle bir çıkarım yapmadım. Ben ve kahramanım Egger bu tür şeyleri düşünemeyiz. Evet, Egger sıradan bir adam. Bunun yanı sıra insanın idealleri yaşamı sırasında değişir. Genç ve güçlü bir adamın idealleri bir hastalıkla ya da ölümle karşılaştığı anda değişebilir. Bir gencin ideali olimpiyat şampiyonu olmaktır, yaşlı birinin ise ertesi sabah yardıma ihtiyaç duymadan mutfağa gidebilmek.
Söyleşinin bütünü için: http://t24.com.tr/k24/yazi/robert-see...
Efendim şöyle ki, Bütün Bir Ömür’e başlamadan son okuduğum kitap “Büyülü Dağ” idi. Kendisini okurken en sevdiğim filmlerden biri olan “Youth” dan sahneler sürekli kafamda canlanmıştı ve hatta artırıp yönetmeni Sorrentino’nun kesinlikle Büyülü Dağ’dan etkilenerek bu filmi çektiğini düşünmüş, herkese de bunu savunmuştum. Neyse şimdi fark ettim ki,
Robert Steehlar Youth’da oynamış. Acaba hangi roldeydi diye bir baktım, Luco Moroder imiş. Yani “dağcı” rolünde. Anımsadığım sahne şuydu filmden: Lena Ballinger(Rachel Weisz) ile konuşuyorlar. Youth’da otelde kalan ve sürekli küvetlerden çıkmayan ve küvetlerin içinde felsefi konuşma yapanlar için bir imada bulunuyor ve Lena’ya Küvetlerin Everest’ten daha tehlikeli olduğunu söylüyordu. Tıpkı Büyülü Dağ’da dönen sanatoryum sohbetleri gibi.
Yani anlayacağınız şu anda Bütün Bir Ömür, Youth ve Büyülü Dağ sarmal halde zihnimde dolaşmakta. Edebiyatın en güzel yanı da bu sanırım. Bazen birbirine hiç uymayan puzzle parçalarını birbirine uydurması bazense bir bütünü tekrar birleştirmek için acımadan dağıtması.
Neyse gelelim Bütün Bir Ömür’e. Dili sade ve çok akıcı. Betimlemeler sadelikle, neyi anlatmak için görevlendirildilerse, amacını aşmadan başarıyla işlerini bitirip sahneyi terk ediyorlar. Karakter Egger zihinde tertemiz canlanıyor. Hatta köşeleri hatları öyle net ki, coğrafyanın yaşanılanların bize uzaklığına rağmen Egger “bizden biri” oluyor.
Yazar kısacık bir kitapta bütün bir ömrü anlatmayı vaat ediyor ve başta verdiği söz tutuyor.
Kitapta Egger’ın bütün bir ömründeki kayıplar anlatılıyor ama alt katmanda doğanın da kayıpları var. Hatta bana yer yer doğa ve Egger’ın serüveni özdeşleşti gibi geldi. "Peki bütün bir ömürde sadece acılar ve kayıplar mı var?" sorusuna da kendimizce bir cevap bulduruyor Egger. "Eh öyle de diyebiliriz," diyor bana sorarsanız çünkü kitapta mutluluk anları kısacık ve sürekliliği yok. Tıpkı bizim de hayatlarımızda olduğu gibi.
Benim kitapta en başarılı bulduğum kısım, yazarın kolaylıkla ajite ederek nakavt yumruğunu çakabileceği bizi bir anda yere sereceği çoğu yeri hiç çaktırmadan böğre, bele, ard arda yumruklar şeklinde ince çalışarak direncimizi yavaş yavaş çökerterek uzun zamana yayarak yapması oldu. ☺ Hemen ölmedik, Egger ile birlikte direndik.
Kitabın ismini de öyle güzel bir anda çat diye karşımıza çıkardı ki, ben buna benzer bir hazzı bir de Zambra okurken “Bonzai” nin çıktığı anda yaşamıştım.
Uzun lafın kısası, kesinlikle okumanızı tavsiye ediyorum.
Ve yorumuma son verirken, şuraya kitap hakkında Robert Seethaler ile yapılan bir söyleşiden bir parça bırakmak istiyorum çünkü bence kitabı ve yazarın duruşunu inanılmaz güzel özetliyor. Bayıldım!
-Doğa kitabınızda önemli bir yere sahip. Soğuktan, kardan ölen karakterler… İlk sayfalarda Boynuzlu Hannes ölüm kendisine yaklaştıkça dağlara doğru kaçıyor. (Bu satırlar anında kedileri aklıma getirdi: Onlar da sanki ölüm yaklaşıyormuş gibi olduğunda karanlık ve ıssız yerlere koşar.) Sizce insanlar artık ait olmadıkları doğaya özlem mi duyuyor? Doğayla insan arasındaki ilişkiyi nasıl değerlendirirsiniz?
İnsanların birçoğu için doğa yalnızca özlem duyulan bir yer olarak vardır. Bu yüzden doğayı yüceltmekten hoşlanırlar. Ama bu durumu duygusallaştırmaya gerek yok. Dağlar orada duruyor ve hiçbir şey istemiyor. Güzel oldukları kadar çirkinler. Biz onları nasıl görmek istiyorsak öyleler. Uzaktan bakıldığında ya da hayalde canlandırıldıklarında son derece güzeller. Ama onlara yaklaşınca hele bir de tırmanmaya kalkınca huzursuz, meşakkatli, sert, rüzgârlı, soğuk ve bazen tehlikeli olduklarından bu düşünce hızla değişiyor. Doğanın asıl anlamı her zaman bir imtihandır. Aynı sevgi gibi.
-Peki kitapta bu imtihanı, ya da insanla doğanın çatışmasını mı okuyoruz?
Doğanın duyguları yoktur. Çığ insanlardan intikam almak için köyü basmıyor. Bu olay yalnızca karların fizik kurallarını takip etmesi sonucu meydana geliyor. Zehirli bir yılan kötü olduğundan sokmuyor insanları. O bir yılan hepsi bu.
-Kitabın kahramanı Egger, önce bacaklarını ardından evini ve eşini kaybediyor. Fakat tüm bu felaketlerden sonra tutumunda bir değişim görmüyoruz. Demek istediğim, bir dinî inanca yakınlaşmıyor ya da yüce bir motivasyona ihtiyaç duyuyor gibi görünmüyor. Tanrısız bir Eyüp gibi aslında. Yaşam motivasyonunu nereden buluyor? Platon’un, Phaidon’daki bir ifadesini hatırlıyorum: Bir şeyin kusurlu olarak algılanması için zihnimizde bir kusursuz tanımı olması gerekir. Egger’in kusursuz bir hayat arayışında olmayışını böyle bir tanıma sahip olmamasıyla bağdaştırabilir miyiz? Egger sıradan bir adam mıdır?
İyi bir noktaya değindiniz. Daha doğrusu Platon iyi bir noktaya değinmiş. Açıkçası ben böyle bir çıkarım yapmadım. Ben ve kahramanım Egger bu tür şeyleri düşünemeyiz. Evet, Egger sıradan bir adam. Bunun yanı sıra insanın idealleri yaşamı sırasında değişir. Genç ve güçlü bir adamın idealleri bir hastalıkla ya da ölümle karşılaştığı anda değişebilir. Bir gencin ideali olimpiyat şampiyonu olmaktır, yaşlı birinin ise ertesi sabah yardıma ihtiyaç duymadan mutfağa gidebilmek.
Söyleşinin bütünü için: http://t24.com.tr/k24/yazi/robert-see...
July 15, 2018
واحدة من الروايات التي ما أن تفتح صفحتها الأولى حتى تغرق في عالمها بالكامل، رغم صغر حجمها إلا أنها حَوَت بين صفحاتها صراعًا عجيبًا وفريدًا بين برودة الشتاء ودفء الحب، وبين تأمل الطبيعة الجليدية وتأمل الذات المنطوية على نفسها تمضي حياة كاملة، هادئة، وبسيطة. مرت سنوات عُمر بطلها بسرعة الساعات التي قضيتها في قراءتها فارتجفت كأنها سنوات عمري وقد هربت مني دون أن أشعر، ثم اكتشفت في النهاية أني كنت هادئًا ومسترخيًا وأنا أقرأها كأني كنت أستمتع بنسمة ربيع خاطفة وآسرة توقف عندها الزمن للحظات، فخدّرت أعصابي وأطربت قلبي بشكلٍ يصعب وصفه بالكلمات.
تمت
November 9, 2025
A Whole Life follows the life of Andreas Egger as it unfolds in a remote village in the Austrian mountains. It sounds a bit humdrum, doesn't it? Not so in the hands of Robert Seethaler's quiet and spare prose. (Kudos to Charlotte Collins for a beautiful translation!)
As a small boy in 1902, Andreas arrives in the village and is left in the care of an abusive uncle.
As a child Andreas Egger had never shouted or cheered. He didn't even really talk until his first year at school.
This character trait, one that would stay with him his whole life, mirrors the understated prose so effectively.
Andreas Egger's story spans the greater part of the 20th century, as the wheel of progress makes its way to his small village. Still, his connection to the natural world that has surrounded him his whole life never wavers, even when it brings heartache and loss.
He couldn't remember where he had come from, and ultimately he didn't know where he would go. But he could look back without regret on the time in between, his life, with a full-throated laugh and utter amazement.
This was another fabulous Buddy Read with Jennifer and Lisa. I give both of them 5 stars, too! 🤗
Jennifer's Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lisa's Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
As a small boy in 1902, Andreas arrives in the village and is left in the care of an abusive uncle.
As a child Andreas Egger had never shouted or cheered. He didn't even really talk until his first year at school.
This character trait, one that would stay with him his whole life, mirrors the understated prose so effectively.
Andreas Egger's story spans the greater part of the 20th century, as the wheel of progress makes its way to his small village. Still, his connection to the natural world that has surrounded him his whole life never wavers, even when it brings heartache and loss.
He couldn't remember where he had come from, and ultimately he didn't know where he would go. But he could look back without regret on the time in between, his life, with a full-throated laugh and utter amazement.
This was another fabulous Buddy Read with Jennifer and Lisa. I give both of them 5 stars, too! 🤗
Jennifer's Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lisa's Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
August 30, 2019
يا للجمال! يا للروعة!
إنّها قصة حياة "أندرياس إيجر" المواطن الوديع في إحدى قرى جبال الألب. قصة حياته الكاملة. يرويها الكاتب النمساوي "روبرت ويتالر".
من أجمل الروايات التي قرأتها. أجمل ما فيها ذلك الوصف الممتع، والسرد الأخّاذ، والتقنية الإبداعية التي يفتتح بها الكاتب قصصه الداخلية ويختمها، والانتقال السلس والممتع في الزمن، وتلك الإستدارة المذهلة التي ربطت أول الرواية بنهايتها.
الرواية مدهشة جدًا، ورغم قصرها إلا أنّها تجذبك بقوة إلى أجوائها، وأنصح بقراءتها.
الترجمة جميلة ومتقنة، وإن عابها استخدام بعض الكلمات الغريبة في مواطن معدودةٍ وقليلة، إلا أنّها في مجملها ممتازة.
إنّها قصة حياة "أندرياس إيجر" المواطن الوديع في إحدى قرى جبال الألب. قصة حياته الكاملة. يرويها الكاتب النمساوي "روبرت ويتالر".
من أجمل الروايات التي قرأتها. أجمل ما فيها ذلك الوصف الممتع، والسرد الأخّاذ، والتقنية الإبداعية التي يفتتح بها الكاتب قصصه الداخلية ويختمها، والانتقال السلس والممتع في الزمن، وتلك الإستدارة المذهلة التي ربطت أول الرواية بنهايتها.
الرواية مدهشة جدًا، ورغم قصرها إلا أنّها تجذبك بقوة إلى أجوائها، وأنصح بقراءتها.
الترجمة جميلة ومتقنة، وإن عابها استخدام بعض الكلمات الغريبة في مواطن معدودةٍ وقليلة، إلا أنّها في مجملها ممتازة.
June 16, 2026
Around the end of the First World War, a child is born in Austria. At about age four, his mother dies and he is left in the care of a farmer in a remote Alpine valley. This farmer didn’t much care for the boy’s mother and doesn’t much care for another child. Andreas, which is the boy’s name, learns to keep quiet and avoid giving offense. Education in those parts was rudimentary at best, and the most valuable lessons he learned were in mastering his environment in the agricultural sense: building fences, caring for livestock, digging ditches and the like.
The story told here is pleasant, much like the other book I’ve read by this author, the less-successful The Café with No Name. Café was set in a down-and-out part of Vienna and featured a large cast of characters, each of which offers us a snippet of their lives before moving on again. This book, focused on a single individual, was much more gripping. If Café illustrated the breadth of life, this book tackled its depth. Told in the third person, it describes the events that impacted Andreas’ life.
Describes, but doesn’t explain. How can you explain the random chance of survival attending a natural disaster? How do you explain love? Or war? Author Seethaler wisely doesn’t try, but sticks to the observable facts of how Andreas responds to each of these things. For a laborer raised far from Asia, he seems to have an instinctive, Zen-like respect for simply accepting things as they are. This lack of desire or internal call to action may be what keeps him alive in situations where others perish.
Near the end of the book, and his life, he takes inventory of how he’s spent his life and is not unhappy about it. He has performed hard work, behaved honorably during war and avoided the less-savory temptations of life. I found myself creating my own ledger after reading this passage, wondering whether, in my final hours, I will feel pride, embarrassment or regret. Or all of these.
Andreas didn’t get much of what he wanted most in the world, but he did manage his simple life in a way most satisfactory to him. This is one of those deceptively simple stories that contain a great deal of wisdom.
Thanks to Jennifer (NYC) for recommending this one, and also for placing it in comparison to The Life and Times of Michael K., an interesting juxtaposition. Both describe loners, but their experiences and outlooks are vastly different. In the end, both stick to their convictions.
The story told here is pleasant, much like the other book I’ve read by this author, the less-successful The Café with No Name. Café was set in a down-and-out part of Vienna and featured a large cast of characters, each of which offers us a snippet of their lives before moving on again. This book, focused on a single individual, was much more gripping. If Café illustrated the breadth of life, this book tackled its depth. Told in the third person, it describes the events that impacted Andreas’ life.
Describes, but doesn’t explain. How can you explain the random chance of survival attending a natural disaster? How do you explain love? Or war? Author Seethaler wisely doesn’t try, but sticks to the observable facts of how Andreas responds to each of these things. For a laborer raised far from Asia, he seems to have an instinctive, Zen-like respect for simply accepting things as they are. This lack of desire or internal call to action may be what keeps him alive in situations where others perish.
Near the end of the book, and his life, he takes inventory of how he’s spent his life and is not unhappy about it. He has performed hard work, behaved honorably during war and avoided the less-savory temptations of life. I found myself creating my own ledger after reading this passage, wondering whether, in my final hours, I will feel pride, embarrassment or regret. Or all of these.
Andreas didn’t get much of what he wanted most in the world, but he did manage his simple life in a way most satisfactory to him. This is one of those deceptively simple stories that contain a great deal of wisdom.
Thanks to Jennifer (NYC) for recommending this one, and also for placing it in comparison to The Life and Times of Michael K., an interesting juxtaposition. Both describe loners, but their experiences and outlooks are vastly different. In the end, both stick to their convictions.
June 19, 2020
حكاية كاملة ، حكاية إنسان، ذكريات متبعثرة على هيئة ما يسمى حياة طويلة تبدو كومضة، كلمح البصر ، مواقف وأشخاص مبعثرون هنا وهناك ، لحظات من العزلة واخرى من الحرب، لحظات اللقاء الأول واللمسة الاولى والشغف الاول والبدايات، ذكريات تمثل الشق الحي من وجود الإنسان أثناء حضوره في هذا العالم ، وكأنه ضيف هامشي على مائدة عشاء ملكية ..
تهزني من الأعماق مثل هذه الحكايات، حكايات الرجل البسيط ، الرجل صاحب الحياة الهادئة والمملة جداً، لا أنتظر هنا مغامرات كبيرة ولا ابطالاً، بل مجرد حياة وأشخاص في الواقع نراهم هنا يتحركون على الورق يخرجون من بين الكلمات ليخبرونا، أن هؤلاء هم ابطال الحكايا الحقيقيون، الذين نسيهم البشر ولكن لم تنسهم حكايتهم ، تذكرت فجأة رواية (الإحساس بالنهاية) والتي يتشابه فيها الموضوع مع هذه الرواية والتي تسرد ايضاً حياة رجل يعيش أيامه الأخيرة في تساؤلات عن النهاية والخوف من الموت وعن الرغبة في معرفة الحياة عن طريق الذكريات المبعثرة ..
على كل حال، يقدم لنا (زيتالر) هنا لوحة جميلة دافئة مفعمة برائحة الطبيعة والشتاء والعزلة والحب والبساطة والغربة، يقدم لنا الحرب والرعب والموت وأشياء أخرى تفيض بها الحياة بلا توقف، أبدع في رسم شخصياته، أسلوب سلس وحكاية أمتنعت في الدخول الى المتاهات السردية المعقدة، كتب لنا قصة حياة كاملة، إنها كاملة بكل ما فيها من بساطة وهدوء وعزلة ابدية ..
تهزني من الأعماق مثل هذه الحكايات، حكايات الرجل البسيط ، الرجل صاحب الحياة الهادئة والمملة جداً، لا أنتظر هنا مغامرات كبيرة ولا ابطالاً، بل مجرد حياة وأشخاص في الواقع نراهم هنا يتحركون على الورق يخرجون من بين الكلمات ليخبرونا، أن هؤلاء هم ابطال الحكايا الحقيقيون، الذين نسيهم البشر ولكن لم تنسهم حكايتهم ، تذكرت فجأة رواية (الإحساس بالنهاية) والتي يتشابه فيها الموضوع مع هذه الرواية والتي تسرد ايضاً حياة رجل يعيش أيامه الأخيرة في تساؤلات عن النهاية والخوف من الموت وعن الرغبة في معرفة الحياة عن طريق الذكريات المبعثرة ..
على كل حال، يقدم لنا (زيتالر) هنا لوحة جميلة دافئة مفعمة برائحة الطبيعة والشتاء والعزلة والحب والبساطة والغربة، يقدم لنا الحرب والرعب والموت وأشياء أخرى تفيض بها الحياة بلا توقف، أبدع في رسم شخصياته، أسلوب سلس وحكاية أمتنعت في الدخول الى المتاهات السردية المعقدة، كتب لنا قصة حياة كاملة، إنها كاملة بكل ما فيها من بساطة وهدوء وعزلة ابدية ..
April 22, 2016
Österreich im frühen 20. Jahrhundert. Andreas Egger kommt als Vierjähriger in das Tal, in dem er fast sein ganzes Leben verbringen wird. Es ist kein großes Leben, er erreicht nicht viel, außer dem, was wohl wirklich wichtig ist: zu überleben und ein zufriedenes Leben zu führen.
Ich liebe Bücher, die den “kleinen Mann” ins Zentrum des Geschehens rücken. Wie viele Helden gibt es denn wirklich da draußen? Muss jeder große Taten vollbringen, eine großartige Karriere hinlegen? Sind nur solche, denen dies gelingt, wert, dass man Bücher über sie schreibt? Für mich nicht, denn mich hat von jeher das Leben “normaler” Menschen mehr interessiert.
Andreas Egger ist ein solcher Mensch, das Schicksal hält einiges für ihn bereit, an dem ein anderer, ambitionierterer Mann womöglich verzweifelt wäre, doch nicht Andreas Egger. Er sieht an allem die positive Seite, gibt sich mit dem zufrieden, was ihm beschieden wird. Das heißt nicht, dass er keine Ideen hat oder Möglichkeiten erkennt, keine Ziele hat, im Gegenteil, das, was er gerne erreichen möchte, verfolgt er auch. Aber es sind kleine, realistische Ziele, und wenn etwas dazwischen kommt, macht er das beste daraus.
Robert Seethalers wunderbarer Roman kann gar nicht genug Leser finden in einer Gesellschaft, in der jeder eine tolle Karriere wollen muss, in der nur eine stetige Leistungssteigerung und Veränderungswillen zählen, niemand, der etwas auf sich hält, mit einer einfachen Arbeit und dem ganz privaten Streben nach Glück zufrieden sein darf. Zeigt nicht die Anzahl der Burnout- und Depressionskranken, was zu hohe Erwartungen seitens der Gesellschaft und an sich selbst bewirken?
Geschrieben ist das Buch genau mit jener wunderbaren Leichtigkeit, die mich bereits durch den “Trafikanten” fliegen ließ und die die Lektüre zu einem puren Genuss werden lässt. Dabei stößt man auf so fabelhafte Sätze wie den folgenden:
“Die Vergangenheit schien sich in alle Richtungen zu krümmen und in der Erinnerung gerieten die Abläufe durcheinander beziehungsweise formten und gewichteten sich auf eigentümliche Weise immer wieder neu.”
“Ein ganzes Leben” ist eines dieser Bücher, die im Gedächtnis bleiben, die mehr als eine Geschichte sind und uns zeigen, worauf es im Leben wirklich ankommt.
Der Roman, der auf der Longlist des diesjährigen Man Booker Prize International steht, hätte eine Aufnahme in die Shortlist verdient, drücken wir die Daumen!
Ich liebe Bücher, die den “kleinen Mann” ins Zentrum des Geschehens rücken. Wie viele Helden gibt es denn wirklich da draußen? Muss jeder große Taten vollbringen, eine großartige Karriere hinlegen? Sind nur solche, denen dies gelingt, wert, dass man Bücher über sie schreibt? Für mich nicht, denn mich hat von jeher das Leben “normaler” Menschen mehr interessiert.
Andreas Egger ist ein solcher Mensch, das Schicksal hält einiges für ihn bereit, an dem ein anderer, ambitionierterer Mann womöglich verzweifelt wäre, doch nicht Andreas Egger. Er sieht an allem die positive Seite, gibt sich mit dem zufrieden, was ihm beschieden wird. Das heißt nicht, dass er keine Ideen hat oder Möglichkeiten erkennt, keine Ziele hat, im Gegenteil, das, was er gerne erreichen möchte, verfolgt er auch. Aber es sind kleine, realistische Ziele, und wenn etwas dazwischen kommt, macht er das beste daraus.
Robert Seethalers wunderbarer Roman kann gar nicht genug Leser finden in einer Gesellschaft, in der jeder eine tolle Karriere wollen muss, in der nur eine stetige Leistungssteigerung und Veränderungswillen zählen, niemand, der etwas auf sich hält, mit einer einfachen Arbeit und dem ganz privaten Streben nach Glück zufrieden sein darf. Zeigt nicht die Anzahl der Burnout- und Depressionskranken, was zu hohe Erwartungen seitens der Gesellschaft und an sich selbst bewirken?
Geschrieben ist das Buch genau mit jener wunderbaren Leichtigkeit, die mich bereits durch den “Trafikanten” fliegen ließ und die die Lektüre zu einem puren Genuss werden lässt. Dabei stößt man auf so fabelhafte Sätze wie den folgenden:
“Die Vergangenheit schien sich in alle Richtungen zu krümmen und in der Erinnerung gerieten die Abläufe durcheinander beziehungsweise formten und gewichteten sich auf eigentümliche Weise immer wieder neu.”
“Ein ganzes Leben” ist eines dieser Bücher, die im Gedächtnis bleiben, die mehr als eine Geschichte sind und uns zeigen, worauf es im Leben wirklich ankommt.
Der Roman, der auf der Longlist des diesjährigen Man Booker Prize International steht, hätte eine Aufnahme in die Shortlist verdient, drücken wir die Daumen!
September 28, 2020
هذا الموت، يتناقص المرء ببساطة بمرور الوقت. يجري هذا بسرعة مع أحدهم، ومع آخر قد يستغرق طويلًا. بدءًا من ولادتك، تبدأ خسارتك واحدة تلو الأخرى. في البداية سنًا، ثم جميع أسنانك. أوّلَ الأمرِ ذكرى، ثم الذاكرة كلها، وهكذا دواليك، حتى يأتي يومٌ لا يتبقى منك شيء. ثم يرمون آخر ما تبقى منك في حفرة، ويردمونها، وهذا كل شيء”.
روبرت زيتالر.
October 4, 2017
I love how books take me to new places. A Whole Life is set in an alpine village in Austria. I found it a treat to vicariously hike the mountains and take in the fresh air, sunshine, and wild flowers in the Austrian Alps. I also learned how arduous and treacherous life could be in the mountains, particularly in winter, during those years when there was no electricity, automobiles or cable cars, and modern amenities. The mountains can be "once so beautiful and so terrifying" at the same time. Above all, I was moved by its portrayal of how life can be fully lived in spite of hardship, want, and loss.
A Whole Life is a German best seller and the first of four books by Austrian writer, Robert Seethaler, to be translated into English. The translation by Charlotte Collins wonderfully captured the spare and quiet quality in Seethaler’s prose. The novel traces the life of Andreas Egger from the early 1900s to the 1970s. It is not a life any of us would want. Egger’s childhood is blighted by the loss of his mother and physical abuse from his foster father. He gets paid poorly as a laborer who does heavy wood-cutting jobs in the mountains and later as a cable-car maintenance worker, and finally as a mountain guide. A model employee, he takes pride in his work and regards himself as “a small but not unimportant cog in a gigantic machine called Progress." An avalanche killed his wife and left him with two broken legs. He also spends 8 years as a prisoner of war during WW2. It would have been easy to turn Egger’s life into an epic pity party. It would also have been tempting for Seethaler to write a sentimental story. Instead, Seethaler crafted an understated story about Egger eking out his existence, one day at a time. Not much happens but there is much to admire in Egger’s acceptance and contentment. He is a man of few words, a lonely outsider, a gentle and restrained soul who is grateful for small things. As long as "there is work and something to eat", he is content. In a letter he wrote to his deceased wife, Egger says, "…the only really bad thing is the cold…But I don't mean to complain. There are people lying still and cold in the snow and I am still looking at the stars."
A Whole Life may not be everyone’s cup of tea. A nature lover will likely enjoy it. This strikes me as a book one may read in quiet contemplation, in a mountain retreat, perhaps. I left the Austrian mountains feeling a little wiser. Thank you, Mr. Seethaler.
A Whole Life is a German best seller and the first of four books by Austrian writer, Robert Seethaler, to be translated into English. The translation by Charlotte Collins wonderfully captured the spare and quiet quality in Seethaler’s prose. The novel traces the life of Andreas Egger from the early 1900s to the 1970s. It is not a life any of us would want. Egger’s childhood is blighted by the loss of his mother and physical abuse from his foster father. He gets paid poorly as a laborer who does heavy wood-cutting jobs in the mountains and later as a cable-car maintenance worker, and finally as a mountain guide. A model employee, he takes pride in his work and regards himself as “a small but not unimportant cog in a gigantic machine called Progress." An avalanche killed his wife and left him with two broken legs. He also spends 8 years as a prisoner of war during WW2. It would have been easy to turn Egger’s life into an epic pity party. It would also have been tempting for Seethaler to write a sentimental story. Instead, Seethaler crafted an understated story about Egger eking out his existence, one day at a time. Not much happens but there is much to admire in Egger’s acceptance and contentment. He is a man of few words, a lonely outsider, a gentle and restrained soul who is grateful for small things. As long as "there is work and something to eat", he is content. In a letter he wrote to his deceased wife, Egger says, "…the only really bad thing is the cold…But I don't mean to complain. There are people lying still and cold in the snow and I am still looking at the stars."
A Whole Life may not be everyone’s cup of tea. A nature lover will likely enjoy it. This strikes me as a book one may read in quiet contemplation, in a mountain retreat, perhaps. I left the Austrian mountains feeling a little wiser. Thank you, Mr. Seethaler.
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June 27, 2016Lovely, dark and deep.
A quiet, respectful tribute to a gentle life of stoic self-sufficiency. Sort of Austrian Stoner, I imagine, set not in academia but in a remote (fictional) mountain valley where Andreas Egger works first as a general farm hand, then on the construction of wondrous, novel beasts known as cable cars that bring the twin benefits of modernity: tourism and electricity.
Call-up papers to fight in WW2 come as a surprise as he had been declared unfit for service back at the beginning of the war. But when the young and fit have all been killed, even the lame are sent, not to return for years. Not to return at all, really, for the valley he finds his way back to from captivity in a Russian internment camp has changed beyond his imagination. Villagers sit in their brightly lit rooms, staring at strange moving images in the box in the corner. Strangers swoop down the snowy slopes on pieces of waxed wood in winter, and in summer get themselves lost.
They need guidance.
They need to stop chattering.
Silence.
November 3, 2022
"Conseguiria viver bem, durante bastante tempo, com o dinheiro do seu antigo trabalho de guia; tinha um teto para se abrigar, uma cama para dormir e, quando se sentava no seu banquinho do lado de fora da porta, podia deixar o seu olhar vaguear até as pálpebras se lhe fecharem e o queixo descer para o peito. Na vida, também ele, como toda a gente, acalentara ideias e sonhos. Alguns concretizara por si só; outros tinham-lhe sido concedidos. Muitas coisas haviam permanecido fora do seu alcance, ou, então, mal as alcançara, foram-lhe arrancadas novamente das mãos. Mas ainda ali estava."
Gostei muito do Andreas Egger!
Gostei muito do Andreas Egger!
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