Arnon Grünberg
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Arnon Grunberg (born February 22, 1971 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch writer. Some of his books are written using the heteronym Marek van der Jagt.
[edit] Selected Bibliography
Novels:
- Blauwe maandagen / Blue Mondays (1994)
- Figuranten / Silent Extras (1997)
- De heilige Antonio ("Saint Antonio") (1998)
- Fantoompijn / Phantom Pain (2000)
- De geschiedenis van mijn kaalheid / Story of My Baldness (2000), as Marek van der Jagt
- De Mensheid zij geprezen, Lof der Zotheid 2001 ("Praised be Mankind"/"Praise of Folly 2001") (2001)
- Gstaad 95-98 (2002), as Marek van der Jagt
- De asielzoeker ("The Asylum Seeker") (2003)
- De joodse messias / Grote jiddische roman ("The Jewish Messiah") (2004)
- Tirza (2006)
Stories:
Essays:
- Troost van de slapstick ("The Comfort of Slapstick") (1998)
- Monogaam ("Monogamous") (2001), as Marek van der Jagt
- Otto Weininger Of bestaat de jood? ("Otto Weininger or Does the Jew Exist?") (2005), as Marek van der Jagt
Filmscript:
- Het 14e kippetje ("The Fourteenth Chicken") (1998)
Plays:
- You are also very attractive when you are dead (1998)
- De Asielzoeker (adapted by Koen Tachelet, 2005)
Sites:
[edit] Themes, Style, Stories
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Grunberg likes to use the perspective of individuals that end up making total sense to the reader, but that are likely to be considered more or less severely disturbed people, emotionally or otherwise, by the outside world. In his first two novels, the main character is slightly remarkable but not really a freak. The protagonist's friends, or at least the people he is hanging out with, are usually characterised by having certain obsessions or unusual hobbies, like handing out business cards to complete strangers, occasionally buying newspapers in languages they can't read, or having a desire to make it in Hollywood. The result of our learning the characters' adventures, or lack thereof, is often amusement. Arnon Grunberg possesses the talent to describe absurd or potentially absurd situations and dialogues, without ever losing the author's distance, and without ever telling the reader to laugh. Unusual relationships, of a sexual kind or not, are another important theme to Grunberg. Some characters like spending a lot of (not necessarily available) money, living in hotels, taking taxis and dining in restaurants, a lifestyle that Grunberg himself is suspected of preferring too.
In his "Van der Jagt" novels, as the author said himself, he could, behind the cover of the pseudonym, go a little further in exploring themes that may be inappropriate to some. An example of such a theme is the anal fixation and, in fact, general careless cruelty of the main character described in Gstaad 95-98. This fascinating novel is not easy to read but neither easy to put away. Here, we can't even say that the main character evokes any sympathy in the reader. The novel, however, is humoristic, albeit of a sick kind.
The Asylum Seeker is Grunberg's most touching book so far. Main character Beck is a failure, he makes mistakes (one of them of a violent nature), but ends up being sympathetic in the reader's eyes. Grunberg manages to have the reader conclude that Beck, a frigid cynic without illusions, has been the only normal person in this book's world all along. The Asylum Seeker is not really about an asylum seeker at all. The asylum seeker is merely a guy whom Beck's partner, a woman called The Bird in the book, who is terminally ill, marries in order for him to arrange a passport. The fact that this marriage is actually consumed (something Beck doesn't have a problem with, considering his own sexual policies) indicates the unusual, but maybe superior, nature of Beck and The Bird's relationship.
The Jewish Messiah is not about Judaism, nor about the Messiah nor about any of the political or historical entities that may be hidden, or referred to, in the book. It is about a young individual, Basel-resident Xavier Radek, grandson of a late SS-member. He needs a mission and, wanting to know more about Jewish suffering, decides to "console the Jews." He converts to Zionism, and falls in love with the Jew Awromele. Xavier's almost fatal circumcision, performed by a half-blind dealer of kosher cheese, is described in some of Grunberg's most hilarious scenes. This book, together with the Van der Jagt works, confirms Grunbergs unique position within Dutch literature. An illustration of the sense of humour employed in the book is the name "King David" given to the testicle Radek lost (during his circumcision), which is worshipped when Radek is PM of Israel. Needless to say, actual political issues, something Grunberg is not interested in employing in his books in the first place, are merely referred to because they are simply fun to use.
Some of Grunberg's work, mainly the aforementioned, may be compared with, by way of illustration, Kenzaburo Oe's short novel Seventeen. We witness a possessed individual and his whereabouts, described in a similar, consistently employed irony, that seems to have stopped being irony due to the fact that it is never indicated to be irony in the first place. In Grunberg's case, this makes the breathless reader, although (s)he wants to finish the whole book due to its dark humour, suspense and desire to soon get out again of the world created in it, which is essentially uncomfortable, upsetting and uncosy.
