Overview
Following the sudden death of his best friend, the narrator of The Executor is called to Turin to resolve the will and literary estate of this famous writer and professor. It is a considerable undertaking, as Rudolf had amassed not only a rather extensive collection of house pets (a goose, several ducks, tortoises, and a peacock—to say nothing of Caesar, the old dog), but also a voluminous library of books and research materials. Somewhere under this mountain of papers lies Rudolf’s magnum opus, a work so great that the writer maintained it would be the "world's last novel.Ó But the narrator has other obstacles to overcome: The trio of women Rudolf left behind—the widow, the secretary, and the lover—are all looking for something the narrator isn’t sure he can give. If he had known what awaited him in Turin, would he ever have gone?
Synopsis
Following the sudden death of his best friend, the narrator of The Executor is called to Turin to resolve the will and literary estate of this famous writer and professor. It is a considerable undertaking, as Rudolf had amassed not only a rather extensive collection of house pets (a goose, several ducks, tortoises, and a peacock—to say nothing of Caesar, the old dog), but also a voluminous library of books and research materials. Somewhere under this mountain of papers lies Rudolf’s magnum opus, a work so great that the writer maintained it would be the Òworld’s last novel.Ó But the narrator has other obstacles to overcome: The trio of women Rudolf left behind—the widow, the secretary, and the lover—are all looking for something the narrator isn’t sure he can give. If he had known what awaited him in Turin, would he ever have gone?
Publishers Weekly
A meditation on literary friendship, the latest from Krüger (The Cello Player) opens out onto the mysteries and obfuscations endemic to art making. With the suicide of well-known novelist Rudolf, the nameless male narrator, a close friend of Rudolf's since college, arrives at Rudolf's university-owned palazzo in Turin, Italy, to sort out Rudolf's literary legacy. Ensconced in Rudolf's dusty, disorganized office; bullied by Rudolf's former assistant and probable lover, Marta; concerned for Rudolf's hospitalized widow; and worried by a menagerie of exotic animals Rudolf kept on the palazzo's terrace, the grieving, beleaguered narrator sifts through Rudolf's voluminous papers and correspondence, all the while wryly reflecting on how Rudolf and the narrator together formed their tastes, had their loves and did their work. Yet like all great friendships, this one turns out to have its secrets, and as the narrator attempts to piece together Rudolf's unfinished last work, the novel becomes a beguiling meditation on the nature of authorship and the limits of how much one artist can know another. Krüger, head of the German publishing house Hanser Verlag and editor of the journal Akzente, marshals a tone at once playful and elegiac, perfectly capturing the narrator's loss and his remaining love for life and for work. (Feb.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationEditorials
Publishers Weekly
A meditation on literary friendship, the latest from Krüger (The Cello Player) opens out onto the mysteries and obfuscations endemic to art making. With the suicide of well-known novelist Rudolf, the nameless male narrator, a close friend of Rudolf's since college, arrives at Rudolf's university-owned palazzo in Turin, Italy, to sort out Rudolf's literary legacy. Ensconced in Rudolf's dusty, disorganized office; bullied by Rudolf's former assistant and probable lover, Marta; concerned for Rudolf's hospitalized widow; and worried by a menagerie of exotic animals Rudolf kept on the palazzo's terrace, the grieving, beleaguered narrator sifts through Rudolf's voluminous papers and correspondence, all the while wryly reflecting on how Rudolf and the narrator together formed their tastes, had their loves and did their work. Yet like all great friendships, this one turns out to have its secrets, and as the narrator attempts to piece together Rudolf's unfinished last work, the novel becomes a beguiling meditation on the nature of authorship and the limits of how much one artist can know another. Krüger, head of the German publishing house Hanser Verlag and editor of the journal Akzente, marshals a tone at once playful and elegiac, perfectly capturing the narrator's loss and his remaining love for life and for work. (Feb.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationLibrary Journal
This novel is comparable to Imre Kertész's Liquidationas well as several of Krüger's earlier novels (The Man in the Tower, Himmelfarb)-it's short, it's a mystery, and it's essentially about the creative process. As in the earlier works, Krüger links art to violence or death and has conceived a narrator who aspires to be, but realizes that he is not, part of the intellectual elite. Although he treats literary theory, a topic unlikely to inspire most American readers, like any good mystery writer Krüger is skilled at revealing the right information at the right time. In addition, the cast of interesting characters-including a menagerie of unusual domesticated animals; the extremely average narrator, M; three Furies, his late friend's widow, lover, and secretary, who guide the narrator's actions; and the friend himself, a novelist who, despite being dead by suicide before the novel begins is in many ways the protagonist-keep the reader interested until the conclusion. Ultimately, the novel feels like a long joke. Recommended for academic and public libraries that collect contemporary German fiction.
—K.H. Cumiskey