Die Frequenzen by Clemens J. Setz

Abstract

easy. Dastardlycharacters reemerge to drag themintothenew criminal underworld, and old liberation buddies - now in positions of political power - arejustas guiltyofgreasing thewheelsas everyoneelse. Butthemoreprotectedyou are withhigh fencesand alarms in the Windy City, the more likely you are to be involved when the crime occurs. Car theftbecomes carjacking . Burglarybecomes kidnapping. Mike Nicol places his charactersin thatdelicate middle ground,what he calls "thatinstantbetweenorder and chaos,when everything changes . These characterswalk on that edge constantly.And as they live in a dangerous world, theycan be killedatanymoment"(Litnet.co.za). In thistale,many thingsbreak apart. People are stabbed, gutted, shot,sliced, pummeled,and skewered . The violence can even seem indulgent. But underpinning the violence is a sensitivity to character and social contextthat moves this story from exploitative to thoughtful.Nicol shiftsassuredly between the ethnic groups of the Cape. Bishopand Pylonwheel their finecars between Camps Bay and Khayelitsha township and protect themselves as muchfrom hiv/aidsas fromgunshots. At times, the dialogue can become indistinguishable across characters,who talk the same and often in confusingways. Another unsavoryaspectis thatMace Bishop is not an especially likable main character. Sure,Bishop is a dashing and bravemercenary who once supportedtheliberation struggle, buthe is also stoicalto thepointoffrustration ,motivatedto burstsof action thatcan seemunwarranted. His past lifeof gun smugglinghas throttled his ability to empathize, turning himintoan automaton.Rather,itis Bishop'spartner, Buso,who is pragmatic ,caring,and concernedabout how violence can ripple through friends and family. For soccer fans (like me), Paybackcan be a shocking read after the jubilation of the World Cup. But Mike Nicol's stories challenge us to set down our vuvuzelas fora momentand imaginea different life outsidethestadiums. Deji Olukotun Brooklyn Clemens J.Setz. Die Frequenzen. St. Polten /Salzburg. Residenz. 2009. 714 pages. €24.90. isbn 978-3-7017-1515-2 AlexanderKerfuchs, thefirst-person narratorof young Austrianauthor Clemens Setz's novel Die Frequenzen (The frequencies), shortlisted for the 2009 German Book Prize and awarded theBremenLiterature Prize,at one pointrecallshis childhood fascination withtheidea ofthe RubeGoldbergmachine:"I dreamed of it forseveral consecutivenights, Nota Bene Carmen Giménez Smith Bring Down the LittleBirds University ofArizonaPress Carmen Giménez Smithexlores the myriad reactions and emotions she experiences in relationto both the concept and the reality ofmotherhood. ArielGore describes Bring Down theLittle Birdsas diving into"allthe richand irritating questions withheart, guts,and humor." Images of Afghanistan ArleyLoewen & JosetteMcMichael, eds. OxfordUniversity Press Subtitled Exploring AfghanCulturethrough Artand Literature, thisfascinatingglimpse intoAfghanistan"give[s]all ofus a more profound understanding ofthe richculture and ancient heritage ofa place manyonly know as a place ofwar"(LyseDoucet, BBC WorldNews). November- December 2010 i 65 as ifit werea visionof myown future/' Theprotagonist's lifedoes indeedunfold as partofanintricate chain reaction, muchlike one of thoseconstructions thatperforms a simpletaskinan exceedingly complexfashion . Theexample givenin thenarrative is the"scalping" ofan egg.Theviolence ofthis wordchoice presages theoutcome ofthestory's ownelaborate causality, whichwill lead to a brutal assaultand a fatal headinjury. The concatenationof elements thatculminates inthisevent includesa numberof characters withcrisscrossing fatesin thecity ofGraz.Amongthemare Valerie, a therapist withwhomAlexander, whomeets herthrough hisjobinan old people'shome,fallsinlove;an aspiring actor namedWalter, whom Valerierecruits to playa roleas a patient in hergroupsessionsand whoalsohappens tobeAlexander's childhoodfriend; an increasingly mentally unhinged womannamed Gabi,whosuffers from tinnitus and joins Valerie's meetings; Alexander's father, whoabandonshiswifeand sonshortly after a dinner with Walter 'sfamilyand befriends Gabi's husband, Wolfgang, whenhe,too, hasrunaway;Valerie's father, who is in a vegetative stateand once worked for Walter's father, a famous architect; and a straydog,Uljana, who had belonged to Valerie's father, was thencaredforby Valerie ,and finally wandersforlornly through thecity andthenovel(severalscenesaretoldfrom thedog's perspective). A key motifof Die Frequenzen, signaledin the title, is the limits ofperception. Alexander evokesit whenhe notesthateveryrainbow extends beyondthevisiblesphere into ultraviolet andinfrared regions, whereits bands of imperceptible colors"invisibly pavethesky."But thepartsoftheopticaland acousticfrequency spectrum thatarenot immediately accessible tothe human senses contain thethreat ofmadness: "Somebirds canseethese frequency ranges, andperhaps that iswhythey so oftenlose theirminds"(as do several characters inthenovel).Yet however dangerous theattunement to ordinarily unheardand unseen frequencies might be, it lies at the heartof Setz's fiction and itsbrilliance .Whether in a fleeting image (a contorted tangleof branches is reminiscent of"a failed imitation of Chinesecalligraphy") oran extended riff (one chapter tellsthestory ofY2Kfora page and a halfas if it had happenedbeforerevealing that, although theglobalcatastrophe did...