Well, this one is something different. A female narrator lives with her eccentric uncle in Brittany. The short novel’s title is unequivocal. It’s a wonderfully graphic account of a reclusive, war veteran given to hoarding, gluttony and geriatric eccentricity. Some of his habits are best not read about while you’re eating – which, incidentally is how I do a lot of my reading.
Gisler is an award winning author and poet who writes in both French and German and translates between the two. About Uncle is translated by Jordan Stump, a professor of French at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. So the English is American. Stump has won prizes for translation which makes me reluctant to criticise too assertively although I did wonder whether anyone, on either side of the Atlantic, really talks about “a pair of underwear” or maybe he’s reflecting euphemism in the original French. Moreover, I have never seen the verb “to surveil” used in English although it’s common enough in French so perhaps I’ve learned something.
Uncle eventually becomes ill and is admitted to a strange hospital which doubles as a veterinary unit – or are the characters hallucinating? And the end, when Uncle wanders away from the house on his yellow crutches and she follows him, it is moving. Gisler is a talented descriptive writer.
About Uncle (2024) is published by Peirene Press, based in Bath, a company which specialises in introducing new, shortish novels by foreign writers to a new audience. My attention was drawn to its list by a French friend (not the same one who alerted me to novelist, Valerie Perrin earlier this year) who loves the fiction produced by Peirine so much that she buys them in batches as a regular subscriber.
An interesting discovery and a refreshingly long way from Times and New York Times best sellers. Variety, spice of life etc.
Next week on Susan’s Bookshelves: Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
