Scotland on Sunday // The Horrific Suffering of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot by Carl-Johan Vallgren
Satanic dwarf is no match for barbaric translators
By Andrew Ervin
The Horrific Suffering of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot
Carl-Johan Vallgren
Harvill, £12.99
THIS is the first book by popular Swedish author Carl-Johan Vallgren to be rendered into English, and it does not appear that the translators - Paul and Veronica Britten-Austin - have done him, or us, any favours. Anyone who cannot generate excitement from a story about a deformed, satanic, telekinetic dwarf might want to consider a new line of work. But if the prose of the original was meant to be so preternaturally flat and occasionally redundant, the translators have accomplished something rather spectacular.
The novel opens with a traditional framing tale in which one Jonathan Barefoot agrees to tell the life story of his great-great grandfather, Hercules Barfuss. Perhaps at this point the tepid writing is intentional, with Jonathan’s dull voice intended to reflect the lack of imagination inherent to his time - which is to say ours.
Born in "Königsberg’s most celebrated whorehouse", Hercules has no arms or ears, and there is a hideous cavity where his face should be. He can, however, read people’s minds and communicate telepathically. By coincidence, that same snowy night another baby is born across the hall, and the two eventually fall in love. Hercules’ affection for her will see him through many indignities, including internment in an asylum and a Jesuit monastery.
Things inevitably go awry, and when he begins to exact revenge on his enemies the novel goes from merely strange to utterly gruesome, though at no point does the awkward prose allow us to invest any real interest.
Here is the description of a doctor’s attempt to save the life of our hero’s mother:
"The girl was probably beyond saving. Judging by the sheets, she must already have lost several litres of blood. Her deep unconsciousness bordered on coma. Her pelvis and stomach muscles had ceased to function, so there was no chance of getting the delivery going by natural spasms. For a moment Götz thought of delivering the child with the scalpel, but rejected the idea since, in her weakened state, it would put the mother beyond saving."
With all too many passages as repetitive and bland as this one, Vallgren’s novel is similarly beyond saving. Hercules uses his mental powers to insinuate himself into the minds of those around him - often driving them insane - but the language exiles the reader to a remote distance from the proceedings.
As for Hercules’ motivation, we are told: "Hatred it was had driven him to this macabre lookout post at the slaughterhouse yard, there to refuel himself with a hatred so potent it could only be measured against the love whose hub had gone forever, there to fertilise it and nurture it for higher purposes."
Given that the language frequently reads like hastily composed subtitles to a low-budget horror movie, there is little motivation to pursue the big ideas lurking in this otherwise bold and original story. By quietly raising some fascinating spiritual questions, Vallgren warrants a thematic comparison with his countryman, the great Nobel-winning Pär Lagerkvist. But sadly - and perhaps through no fault of his own - the delivery does not provide his compelling story with the treatment it clearly warrants.
By Andrew Ervin
The Horrific Suffering of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot
Carl-Johan Vallgren
Harvill, £12.99
THIS is the first book by popular Swedish author Carl-Johan Vallgren to be rendered into English, and it does not appear that the translators - Paul and Veronica Britten-Austin - have done him, or us, any favours. Anyone who cannot generate excitement from a story about a deformed, satanic, telekinetic dwarf might want to consider a new line of work. But if the prose of the original was meant to be so preternaturally flat and occasionally redundant, the translators have accomplished something rather spectacular.
The novel opens with a traditional framing tale in which one Jonathan Barefoot agrees to tell the life story of his great-great grandfather, Hercules Barfuss. Perhaps at this point the tepid writing is intentional, with Jonathan’s dull voice intended to reflect the lack of imagination inherent to his time - which is to say ours.
Born in "Königsberg’s most celebrated whorehouse", Hercules has no arms or ears, and there is a hideous cavity where his face should be. He can, however, read people’s minds and communicate telepathically. By coincidence, that same snowy night another baby is born across the hall, and the two eventually fall in love. Hercules’ affection for her will see him through many indignities, including internment in an asylum and a Jesuit monastery.
Things inevitably go awry, and when he begins to exact revenge on his enemies the novel goes from merely strange to utterly gruesome, though at no point does the awkward prose allow us to invest any real interest.
Here is the description of a doctor’s attempt to save the life of our hero’s mother:
"The girl was probably beyond saving. Judging by the sheets, she must already have lost several litres of blood. Her deep unconsciousness bordered on coma. Her pelvis and stomach muscles had ceased to function, so there was no chance of getting the delivery going by natural spasms. For a moment Götz thought of delivering the child with the scalpel, but rejected the idea since, in her weakened state, it would put the mother beyond saving."
With all too many passages as repetitive and bland as this one, Vallgren’s novel is similarly beyond saving. Hercules uses his mental powers to insinuate himself into the minds of those around him - often driving them insane - but the language exiles the reader to a remote distance from the proceedings.
As for Hercules’ motivation, we are told: "Hatred it was had driven him to this macabre lookout post at the slaughterhouse yard, there to refuel himself with a hatred so potent it could only be measured against the love whose hub had gone forever, there to fertilise it and nurture it for higher purposes."
Given that the language frequently reads like hastily composed subtitles to a low-budget horror movie, there is little motivation to pursue the big ideas lurking in this otherwise bold and original story. By quietly raising some fascinating spiritual questions, Vallgren warrants a thematic comparison with his countryman, the great Nobel-winning Pär Lagerkvist. But sadly - and perhaps through no fault of his own - the delivery does not provide his compelling story with the treatment it clearly warrants.
posted by Andrew Ervin at
4/17/2005
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