Author

Publication

1994 - Dalkey Archive Press, Normal, IL, Illinois

Language

English

Word Count

32,750 words, Guess

Page Count

131 pages

Identifiers

  • Open LibraryOL1422832M
  • ISBN-101564780481
  • OCLC Control Number28891512
  • Library of Congress Control Number93033256
  • Goodreads1195223
and 1 more
  • LibraryThing478761

Classifications

  • DDC833/.914
  • LCCPT2670.O5 G413 1994

Description

The English-language debut of one of Austria's leading writers, Geometric Regional Novel is an innovative satire on the process by which bureaucracy and official regimentation insidiously pervade society. In a deadpan, pseudo-scientific tone, the nameless narrator takes us on a tour of a bizarre village whose inhabitants lead such habitual, regulated lives that they resemble elements in a mathematical equation. The traditional leaders of village life - the mayor, the priest, the teacher - uphold the status quo with comically exaggerated attention to ceremony and trivia, and other villagers perform roles identical to those of the generations who preceded them. That nearly every aspect of village life has been codified in some way is suggested by the intrusive presence of warnings, instructions, aphorisms, diagrams, historical records, ordinances, and forms - including a hilarious 6-page one for anyone wishing to take a stroll in the forest that makes the IRS's long form look user-friendly by comparison. Contrasting with the mathematical descriptions of village life are flashes of colorful, surrealistic writing, exemplifying the life of the imagination so often smothered beneath the monotonous routine of traditional rural existence. The stifling conservatism of such life has rarely been exposed as mercilessly as Jonke does here.

Subjects

Other Editions

  • Geometric regional novelDalkey Archive Press1994-01-01

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