The Figure on the Boundary Line: Selected Prose by Christoph Meckel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The first half of the book and through the novella, Tullipan, could have been written by a fellow in the throes of a horrendously engaging acid trip. Nonsense abounds as does a silliness sometimes a little disconcerting. But after moving on past the novella, Tullipan, the work gets rumbling on a new fast-speed track and the work becomes itself something remarkable and magnificent. There is no weakness in the last half of the book at all. Comments here on goodreads.com comparing Meckel to Walser and others like him are accurate. The quality of Meckel's writing is amazing. But the beginning pieces are enough to scare some readers away, readers who have little enough faith in a reviewer such as myself who promises the glory at the end of the road. It seems that the first dozen pieces at the beginning introducing Meckel's nonsense prepares us for, and excuse the biblical reference here, the brilliant resurrection to come. Midway through reading the book I wrote a piece about it or something else that you can read here:

http://hub.me/aelBL



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