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Schmidt happens...


Ostensibly a trilogy after the fact, at least according to the short introduction provided in this edition, the three short novels collected in *Nobodaddy's Children* nevertheless are united by style and theme and continue a story arc extending from pre-war Nazi German to a post Cold War apocalypse. The name of the first-person narrator changes from book-to-book, but it's always unmistakably Arno Schmidt who's speaking. I have a German friend who recommended Schmidt to me as the *real* thing, as opposed to the far more popularly translated German writers, such as Grass and Boll. And, after reading *Nobodaddy's Children,* I'd have to agree that my friend was right: Schmidt is indeed the *real* thing.

Schmidt is a highly distinctive, personal, and idiosyncratic writer. His style is fragmented, elliptical, poetic, and declamatory. His text is constructed like a series of photographs. Conventional narrative transitions are often excised. The result is a comparatively short, but dense text, as if all the filler of ordinary novels were discarded, and only the `good stuff' remained. There are philosophical speculations, character portraits ((and assassinations)), historical facts, nature descriptions, personal opinions....all mounted side-by-side like memories in a scrapbook. And yet, remarkably, these fragments make up a coherent whole.

Schmidt reads a little like Celine...meaning, that at first, his text seems typographically alien and difficult to penetrate with its odd punctuation and italicized paragraph headings. But once you read a few pages, you find yourself swept along by the perfectly natural rhythm of Schmidt's voice and effortlessly following his grammatical notation. Also, like Celine, Schmidt is merciless in his contempt of the insanity of war, warmongers, and the `good' citizens who make it all possible by following their leaders into the slaughter. He spares no one. He is uncompromising in his disdain of the idiocy of the uncultured people who make the world the violent madhouse that it is--and he estimates their number at somewhere between 95 to 99% of the general population. Perhaps this attitude goes a long way to explaining why Schmidt isn't so well represented here in America. Why it's taken U.S. publishers so long to put out a translation of his work. In fact, he long went virtually unnoticed in Germany as well. It's not hard to see why. Schmidt isn't a warm and fuzzy writer. To be sure, he's a Romantic in the end, but Schmidt stands alone against the world and he's not afraid to tell you exactly that.

`Scenes from the Life of a Faun' is the first novel in the volume. It describes the life of a modest civil servant engaged on an odd research project as Germany ominously succumbs to war-lust. It ends with a pyrotechnic description of a bombing that is both terrifying and oddly beautiful. `Brand's Heath' picks up the story after Germany's defeat. Here the narrator finds himself among a group of refugees struggling to survive in a country shattered by war. Reduced to foraging for food and shelter, living in humiliation and constant fear of the Occupation forces, both English and Russian, Schmidt describes a nightmarish existence of privation and degradation. And in the midst of it...an unexpected love story destined for a heartbreaking ending.

Of the three novels in *Nobodaddy's Children* these first two are the most difficult in the sense that Schmidt presumes his reader knows a decent amount of history, particularly German history, as well literature, art, philosophy, and folklore. It's not impossible to follow the story if you don't catch all the references and chances are you aren't going to be as smart--or as German--as Schmidt, but this fact may deter some readers. If so, perhaps you ought to proceed straight to the final story in this volume, `Dark Mirrors.'

In `Dark Mirrors' our narrator finds himself alone in a hauntingly empty landscape after an apocalyptic nuclear war efficiently de-peoples the world. But the unique twist--our interlocutor isn't too upset about it. In fact, he thinks it's a downright improvement! Seldom has misanthropy been so impassioned and so rational, never has the argument for the elimination of the human species been so convincingly set forth as it is here. Not long ago, I read Cormac McCarthy's novel about the end of the world, *The Road* and I'm embarrassed now to have praised it so highly. Compared to `Dark Mirrors,' McCarthy's novel seems like a total commercial cop-out--silly, sentimental, pandering pap. In other words, the perfect American Bestseller. Schmidt is the polar opposite, the anti-bestseller, the anti-panderer: he pleases no one except, perhaps, those who don't shrink from looking in the darkest mirror.

How many treasures of world literature are out there that go untranslated because American publishers don't think they can sell ten million copies? Because they don't target the lowest common denominator of intelligence, to use the word in its loosest sense? Thanks to Dalkey Archive for standing against the blitzkrieg of sub-mediocrity that characterizes the American publishing industry today...the very sort of unthinking, lemming-like stupidity that Schmidt also devoted his life to standing against. For what? Not to become rich, that's for certain. Not to climb to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

But, perhaps, to reach even one reader like you.
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tr John E. Woods, among top German postwar writers ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Schmidt's Joycean Comedy
This is one of Schmidt's "superbooks," a large format novel with unusual page layouts, illustrations, and puns a'plenty. Nowhere near as difficult as Zettel's Traum or Evening Edged in Gold, it's a rollicking tale of culture-clash set in the near future (with an extended flashback to 1969), and features a typical Schmidt protagonist (a walking encyclopedia of an old codger), two delightful 17-year-old girls, a visiting American Secretary of State nicknamed Isis, and many more. If you've read & like Schmidt, you'll love this (once again heroically translated by the amazing John E. Woods). And if you don't know Schmidt, you don't know one of the greatest writers of the 20th century--which means you have some catching up to do, and may as well start here. ... Read more

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This encyclopedic technical reference is absolutely indispensable for any foodservice professional who must calculate costs for inventory management or determine exact measurements for portion control. Packed with informative, easy-to-read tables and surprisingly diverse entries, this book will broaden the knowledge of seasoned chefs and novices alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not as great as I had hoped...
It has some useful information, but it seems to be hit or miss for things like serving sizes and yield percentages; then it will sometimes randomly give calorie information. I bought it because I wanted an additional reference and was being impatient about the forthcoming Book of Yields. I regret buying this and should have just waited until December or bought the current edition (I will have anyway now, since this isn't exactly what I was looking for). Live and learn! It may suit your needs just fine, but for a professional reference, it doesn't really deliver. I highly advise checking out the print version before you get the Kindle version to make sure it's what you want; the "sample" didn't help much.

Life Saver!
This is a great book to use as a referance if you are in charge of a kitchen of any size.The information in invaluable and much easier to use than doing your own yeild testing. ... Read more

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Die ÜberwÄltigende Teilhabe anderer Autoren durchsetzt das Werk des "Wortweltenerbauers" Arno Schmidt (1914-1979). Unter dem Oberbegriff "IntertextualitÄt" sind in der vorliegenden Untersuchung verschiedene Formen nachweisbarer Übernahmen zusammengefasst: Anspielung, Zitat, Parodie u.a.m. Ausgehend von einer rezeptionsorientierten Fragestellung wird der Frage nachgegangen, unter welchen Bedingungen intertextuelle Formen in der Novellen-ComÖdie Die Schule der Atheisten (1972) erscheinen: Stehen sie im Dienst der monologischen BeweisfÜhrung einer psychosexuellen Bedeutung oder sind sie, wie es die formale Bestimmung "ComÖdie" nahelegt, humoristisch, d.h. im Sinne eines Bedeutungsspiels dialogisch angelegt? ... Read more