
Count Luna
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Narrated by:
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Charlton Griffin
About this listen
Alexander Lernet-Holenia, (1895 - 1977), was born into the aristocracy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A soldier himself, he watched that empire crumble to dust and closely observed its effects on Central Europe. His writings, which include a copious number of poems, plays, and novels, are among the greatest works in modern German literature. Count Luna is a masterpiece of psychological profiling and employs elements of romanticism, naturalism, expressionism, and magic realism.
The literary merit of Lernet-Holenia is secure in the line of masters like Dostoyevsky and Mann, and his work remains some of the most important of the 20th century. Count Luna is one of his greatest achievements. It is the spellbinding work of a master writer at the height of his power.
©1955 Estate of Alexander Lernet-Holenia (P)2003 Audio ConnoisseurCritic reviews
"As a writer, Alexander Lemet-Holenia combines the best of the classic tradition in literature with a surprisingly contemporary understanding of structure and language. Passages in Count Luna tracing lineage and metaphorical relationships are brilliant; Lemet-Holenia is truly, as the critic Hermann Bahr calls him, a 'goldsmith of words.'" (Independent Publisher)
The book opens with the protagonist, Alexander Jessiersky, an Austrian national visiting Rome, announcing he is going into the catacombs to search for two missing (and presumed dead) French priests. Why is he there, and what is he really looking for?
The protagonist is a man of his times in many ways. After the Anschluss and consequent invasion, Jessiersky is encouraged to buy the property of Count Luna. The count refuses to cooperate. This is not because he has any evident political opposition, but he is suspicious of the instability and value of the new currency. For his failure to submit, officials denounce Luna as a "monarchist sympathizer," brand him an enemy of the state, and send him to Mauthausen concentration camp.
Jessiersky, "though he himself had not done anything, had out of his inactivity failed to do what should have been done" and "allowed his subordinates to do as they chose." Deeply depressed over the realization that "the world is apparently ruled by misunderstanding," he attempts to find Luna and ease his misery by visiting his surviving relatives. Jessiersky's search for truth leads him into extraordinary situations and places, including the Roman catacombs.
Taken for itself, the story is a creative mystery with unusual characters. For that it's worth a listen. But looking deeper, one finds word play, metaphors, philosophy, poetic turns of phrase, and magical realism. Questions about personal responsibility and complicity, as well as the nature of reality itself, abound. The final scenes manage to be haunting, philosophical, chilling, and beautiful all at once.
I'd love to see English-language audible editions of the works by the many talented writers of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire: Lernet-Holenia, Stefan Zweig, Sándor Márai, Arthur Schnitzler, Joseph Roth, and more. All deserve a wider audience.
An almost forgotten gem
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Expect the unexpected
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Great literature, great narrator
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Paranoia dialled up to 11
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Could not finish it
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