Summary of the meeting
Yesterday we met to discuss Address Unknown by Katherine Kressmann Taylor. This epistolary novella is set in California (US) and Munich (Germany) between November 12th, 1932 and March 3rd, 1934 and is a collection of letters between two friends and business associates, Max and Martin. The latter has just moved back to the democratic Germany still recovering from WWI. They are friends, or they were, but as historical events evolve, Martin’s antisemitism, perhaps always hidden, arises as he becomes an official of the National Socialist party.
It is a short novella of only 18 letters and a telegram, but it condenses so much information about how two people, who cared for each other, can become so distant because of the brainwashing of an arising totalitarian state. It ends badly for one of them, but not the one we would have thought, as the “elegant revenge” arrives.
We discussed a lot about it, even if it is very short, as it arises many issues that unfortunately do not seem so far away. It is difficult to say how we would have read this novel when it was first published in Story magazine in September 1938, not knowing what was going to happen later, but, with our present eyes, it is evident why this is a modern classic and should be read by many. Unfortunately, it is so short, we wanted to know more, but we agreed that being letters gave it a lightness that it would not have had if it were a novel.
We gave the book an 9/10.
Film adaptation
There is a 1944 adaptation of the novella directed by William Cameron Menzies, with
- Paul Lukas as Martin Schulz,
- Peter van Eyck as Heinrich Schulz,
- Morris Carnovsky as Max Eisenstein, and
- K.T. Stevens as Griselle Eisenstein.
It is available on YouTube.
At the BookClub…
… we have read a few novels about WWII and totalitarian states. Let’s hope we one day learn and these stories are just novels from the distant past.
- Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (read in 2020, we gave it an 8),
- Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie (read in 2021, we gave it an 8),
- All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (read in 2022, we gave it a 9),
- Nineteen Eight-Four by George Orwell (read in 2023, we gave it a 9), and
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (read in 2023, we gave it an 8).
Katherine Kressmann Taylor
Born in 1903 in Portland, Oregon, she spent much of her early life in the Pacific Northwest. Taylor’s literary career reached its pinnacle with the publication of Address Unknown in 1938 in Story magazine. The novella’s exploration of identity, loyalty, and the seductive allure of authoritarianism struck a deep chord with readers, earning it widespread acclaim and cementing its status as a timeless work of literature.
Despite its success, Taylor did not pursue a full-time career as a writer. Instead, she worked in advertising and public relations, as well as teaching at the University of Oregon. However, her novella continued to resonate with readers long after its initial publication, sparking adaptations for stage, radio, and film.
Next book
Bad Magic by AM Stirling
When Richard meets his cousin Amanda for the first time in twenty years, he’s still afraid of her; she bullied him throughout his childhood and sexually abused him when they were teenagers.
He owns a struggling art gallery that only survives because his wealthy grandmother pays for it. But now Amanda’s back in his life, things look set to change. She’s out to make trouble, drugging Richard with Rohypnol, faking a burglary and trying to persuade their grandmother to change her will.
Richard’s heard a rumour she murdered her mother. Fearing for his grandmother’s life and his inheritance, he decides to give Amanda a dose of her own medicine.
Friday, March 8 at 6 pm
at Biblioteca Ventura Gassol, Cunit
Books available at the Library.
Quote
I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.
Anne Frank, Diary
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