The Devil's Blind Spot: Tales from the New Century

by Alexander Kluge

Scathingly clever short stories. Includes  The Devil in the White House  and  The Development of Iraq as a Case for the Files. The 173 stories collected in Alexander Kluge’s  The Devil’s Blind Spot  range from a dozen pages to just half a page in these tales are like novels in pill form. The whole is arranged in five chapters. The first group illustrates the little-known virtues of the Devil; the second explores love (from Kant to the opera); the third (entitled “Sarajevo Is Everywhere”) addresses power; the fourth considers the cosmos; and the fifth ranges all our “knowledge” against our feelings. Stories such as “Origin of Iraq as a Case for the Files” and “The Devil in the White House” display Alexander Kluge’s special genius for making found material his own. From the wreck of the Kursk to failed love affairs to Chernobyl, Kluge alights on precise details, marching us step by step through a black comedy of the exact stages of thinking that lead to disaster. These semi-documentary stories radiate what W.G. Sebald termed “Kluge’s intellectual steadfastness” as he undertakes his “archaeological excavation of the slag-heaps of our collective existence.”

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, German Literature, Germany

336 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2003

About the author

Kluge was born in Halberstadt at the year 1932.

He studied history, law and music at the University of Marburg Germany, and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt, where befriended the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, who was teaching at the Institute for Social Research, or Frankfurt School.

In 1960 he shooted his first films, before the launch of the New German Cinema.

He also is a remarkable fiction writer, which tend toward the short story form, significant for their formal experimentation and insistently critical thematics.

Reviews

[Jonfaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should make immediate plans to read this. I can't believe it has only garnered a single review. That is criminal. Amazon will outlaw such. Inquiries will be made. Committees will be formed. Excel may prove useful here. I first encountered this on the sadly defunct sign and sight. Shit, I miss that site.

Kluge is better known as a filmmaker. These stories are precise and explore the foggy cores of history and policy. Extremely dark and often funny, apprently the translation is but three-fourths the size of the original. Here's to german-speakers filling the void.

[Cristian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hay algunas historias muy buenas, con reflexiones increíbles pero tampoco encontré una conexión clara. Había historias confusas. En general hay unas joyas increíbles, pero no me gusto tanto el estilo.

[Nietochka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un almanaque disparatado. Son muchas historias, algunas pasan sin pena ni gloria, pero alcanza puntos incandescentes. Tremendo erudito este tipo

[César Carranza · Rating 4 out of 5]

En un principio me pareció muy extraño, pero después de algunos cuentos, entiendes un poco la conexión entre ellos, lo recomiendo mucho.

[Maite Iracheta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading here and there. It will stay put for a while next to my bed.