Review (PDF) Telegrams Of The Soul
"If it be permitted to speak of ‘love at first sound,’ then that’s what I experienced in my first encounter with this poet of prose." So said Thomas Mann of the work of PeterAltenberg. A virtuoso Fin-de-Siècle Viennese innovator of what he called the "telegram style" of writing, Altenberg’s signature short prose straddles the line between the poetic and the prosaic, fiction and observation, harsh verity and whimsical vignette. Inspired by the prose poems of Charles Baudelaire and the Feuilleton—a light journalistic reflection of his day—Altenberg carved out a spare, strikingly modern aesthetic that speaks with an eerie prescience to our own impatient time. Peter Wortsman’s new selection and translation reads like a sly lyrical wink from the turnof-the-century of the telegram to the turn-of-the-millennium of email.
Paperback: 147 pages
Publisher: Archipelago; First Edition edition (April 4, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0974968080
ISBN-13: 978-0974968087
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #425,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #89 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > European > German #155 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Regional & Cultural > European > German #318 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Literature > World Literature > European
This is a book designed for the sheer pleasure of reading. Its rough-paper cover is handsome and feels good in the hand, and the stories and vignettes printed within are short and consumable within minutes. In this case the book-buyer is truly a "consumer." There's no plot, no difficulty, no need even to read them in order. You just pick out one after the other and consume it as you please.Each one takes you back to a time when literature was not hype, not "riveting," not "jaw-dropping," and not "a must read." It was a time when you were thrilled by an author's curious point of view, unexpected turn of phrase and strange semblance of form. You had to read his work because it did something to you, maybe went straight to your heart and mind, and you wanted to feel the way he felt and see the way he saw. It's a different kind of "must read" and a different kind of purpose, so private that you almost hope the book will not find many readers, because the pleasure seems so much your own.Yet one could find a utilitarian purpose in it. Peter Altenberg walks out in the city and sees people every day or on occasion, in the midst of life. He notes something down at his cafe or goes home with an idea in mind. This he commits to paper as fast as he can to capture the moment. He is convinced that "Everything is remarkable if our perspective of it is remarkable! And every little local incident written up in the daily newspaper can sound the depths of life, revealing all the tragic and the comic, the same as Shakespeare's tragedies!" Once the idea is on paper, it is fixed and he does not touch it again. It has crystallized into a prose poem. Writers constipated with the weight of significance and classes in creative writing burdened with technique could find a lesson here.
Peter Altenberg (1859-1919) was one of the literary lions of Vienna around the turn of the last century. His specialty was short prose pieces that were poetic in their economy, turns of phrase, and allusiveness. He was equally known for his carefree, unorthodox lifestyle, which included being a habitué of the coffeehouses and, though a life-long bachelor, a lover of many women (and, like Lewis Carroll, an ardent admirer of prepubescent girls). In his excellent afterword to this volume, the translator Peter Wortsman summarizes Altenberg as a "turn-of-the-century Viennese raconteur-scribe, * * * a walker and a talker and an inveterate loll-about." Wortsman also passes along Franz Kafka's assessment: "Peter Altenberg is a genius of nullifications, a singular idealist who discovers the splendors of this world like cigarette butts in the ashtrays of coffeehouses."TELEGRAMS OF THE SOUL is a collection of 90 of Altenberg's short prose pieces, none over five pages and many less than a page. They are, in Altenberg's words, "extracts from life", as seen and fancifully embroidered and creatively expressed by a man with a poet's sensibilities. Most deal with everyday bourgeois life in Vienna, circa 1895 to 1915, which included not only the coffeehouses and the Prater, but also the "Puff" (brothel) and such exotica as the village of Africans that for a year was set up as an exhibit at the Vienna Zoo.Many of the pieces are whimsical. Some are cynical. A few are silly but they are offset by a few that are acutely poignant. A fair percentage, however, left me mildly baffled or utterly indifferent; too much time and distance, perhaps, separates Altenberg's aesthetic sensibility from mine. It is difficult to read more than four or five pieces at a time.
Telegrams of the Soul Soul Mates & Twin Flames: Discover a Timeless Love, Fulfill Your Soul's Purpose, and Experience a Higher Level of Love (Soul Mates, Twin Flames, Karmic ... Spirits, Endless Love, Spiritual Partner) Southern Cooking Cookbooks: southern cooking recipes Collection Of the Best, Healthy, Delicious And Recommended Soul Food Cookbook (soul food for diabetes,Southern Cookbook): Best Fried Chicken The Best of Soul Food - Recipes To Warm Your Heart & Soul Chicken Soup for the Bride's Soul: Stories of Love, Laughter and Commitment to Last a Lifetime (Chicken Soup for the Soul) Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market Chicken Soup for the Fisherman's Soul: Fish Tales to Hook Your Spirit and Snag Your Funny Bone (Chicken Soup for Soul) Chicken Soup for the Fisherman's Soul: Fish Tales to Hook Your Spirit and Snag Your Funny Bone (Chicken Soup for the Soul) My Soul To Keep (Soul Series Book 1) Down to My Soul (Soul Series Book 2) Chicken Soup for the Grandma's Soul: Stories to Honor and Celebrate the Ageless Love of Grandmothers (Chicken Soup for the Soul) Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul: Stories About Life, Death and Overcoming the Loss of a Loved One (Chicken Soup for the Soul) All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul Echoes of the Soul: The Soul's Journey Beyond the Light - Through Life, Death, and Life After Death Soul Sisters: The Five Sacred Qualities of a Woman's Soul Soul to Soul: Poems, Prayers and Stories to End a Yoga Class Care for the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Psychology & Theology My Beautiful Broken Shell: Words of Hope to Refresh the Soul Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels Among Us: 101 Inspirational Stories of Miracles, Faith, and Answered Prayers Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul
