He secured the entrance of the path from the highway to the forest with a so-called Selbstschuss consisting of two fire-arms with reversed locks aimed horizontally at each other, affixed at chest height in a bush on each side of the path, with the triggers connected by a length of strong, transparent fishing line, so that when someone unsuspecting intended to turn into the woods and reached and triggered the line the Mannlichers would go off and the victim would execute himself. This “Selbstschuss” was originally used for big game, primarily bears, but of course Herman had other targets in mind.
A slim collection of three stories. The first, THE LAST WOLF, is one of old Laszlo’s single endless sentence jobs, played primarily for laughs and cringe through the first half, and then descending into his regular trick of using that form to inform a story of compulsion and obsession. There’s a tender little idea at the end of it.
The love of animals is the one true love in which one is never disappointed.
The last two stories are in fact the same story told from two different perspectives, thematically related to THE LAST WOLF, combining to create something of a cautionary tale about solitude, self-mythology, gossip and legend.
More of a curiosity than an essential Krasznahorkai, but time spent reading him is never wasted.
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