The Island of Second Sight

First published in Germany in 1953, this epic, autobiographical tale of prewar Germans living abroad is a charming if exhausting blend of cultural self-examination and picaresque adventure. Thelen takes meta-fiction to extremes, mixing first-person confession and third-person narrative, beginning when Vigoleis (the author, thinly disguised) and Beatrice (Thelen%E2%80%99s undisguised Swiss companion) travel from Amsterdam to Mallorca in 1931 to care for Beatrice%E2%80%99s brother, Zwingli, who suffers not from some fatal disease but from his connection with the seductive, mercurial Mar%C3%ADa del Pilar. Vigoleis and Beatrice soon find themselves hopelessly entangled in Zwingli%E2%80%99s debt-riddled, filth-ridden downward spiral, eventually taking up residence in a brothel frequented by bullfighters. They support themselves by writing, translating, and serving as tour guides for the wealthy until even this hard-won existence is threatened by the Spanish Civil War and Hitler%E2%80%99s expansion. What keeps such an anthology of misfortunes noteworthy after sixty years is its unique combination of comedy and meditation on everything from the pleasures of a tertulia to the horror of Nazi atrocities. Even when the author-narrator%E2%80%99s observations prove overwhelming, his cultural insights, historical laments, literary references, and abundant wit make this first English translation (by Amherst professor White) and the book itself a literary achievement. (Oct.)