Anthea Bell
Misfits on Mallorca
The Island of Second Sight
By Albert Vigoleis Thelen (Translated by Donald O White)
Galileo Publishers 816pp £14.99
This long and entertaining picaresque novel is the magnum opus of Albert Vigoleis Thelen (1903–1989), and has an intriguing history. The original German edition appeared in 1953, to praise from Paul Celan, Siegfried Lenz and Thomas Mann, who described it as ‘one of the greatest books of the twentieth century’. But although it has been translated into Dutch, French and Spanish it has waited until now for an English version. Donald White, professor emeritus of German at Amherst College, spent over a quarter of a century on his translation, working on it at intervals, and met Thelen and his Swiss wife Beatrice twice to discuss it with them.
The couple are the protagonists of this partly autobiographical novel; the author calls his fictional alter ego Vigoleis or Vigo, and the narrative covers their years on the island of Mallorca in the early 1930s. They arrive in response to a deathbed appeal from Beatrice’s brother Zwingli (also
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk