With the striking contradiction in the title and subtitle (Infinity, the story of a moment), Josipovici immediately indicates that this is a text that should not be taken literally. And indeed, the insecure servant Massimo's account of the life of his former aristocratic boss Tancredo Pavone constantly misleads you. An unknown interviewer questions Massimo about Pavone, although it is not clear what the interviewer's intention is. And Massimo himself constantly loses the thread, falls silent at every turn, and claims that he barely understands anything about Pavone. It is therefore remarkable that, in the meantime, while answering the interviewer's questions, he reproduces verbatim the very long monologues that Pavone has spoken to him. And with a technique that Josipovici clearly owes to W.G. Sebald – Massimo constantly quotes “he said”, sometimes four or five times on a page – he gives the impression that this is a faithful representation, while it is also clear that Massimo may not be such a reliable narrator. And another contradiction: from Massimo's words we can unintentionally conclude that Pavone was an eccentric, headstrong and very misanthropic person, but the relationship between the subordinate servant and his boss gradually seems more and more like a close bond of friendship, especially towards the end. And the self-righteous Pavona turns out to be a fragile person. And one more: Pavone spouts his bile about the evolution of Western culture, but he is a widely celebrated avant-garde music composer himself. And although Pavone swears by elitist culture and lives an aristocratic lifestyle, he seems particularly struck by the culture of the Ibe tribe in West Africa and the Buddhist monasteries in Nepal. And I could go on like this for a while. By now it will be clear that Josipovici puts the unsuspecting reader to the test with all the metatextual aspects of this slim book. Even though I'm not a fan of so much hocus pocus (hence only 3 stars), I have to admit that this is quite impressive. ( )

I find it incumbent upon me to change 3 stars to 5 stars and to write an entirely different review in addition to the flippancy of below.

“Non sminuite il senso di ciò che non comprendete.”
G. Scelsi, Octologo

"Do not belittle the meaning of what you do not understand."
G. Scelsi, Octologo

I cannot help feeling there is a message here for both MJ and me. My post on this last week was not only flippant, but premature.

The rest of this straight review is here:

https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/another-take-on-infinity-...

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It may be 2075. Rumours about MJ are rife. One has it that he is dead. Another that he has simply tired of the world and sits alone in a castle somewhere writing reviews he shows no one. And yet another that none of this is more than an experimental work in which he has given his characters the illusion of choice. In this one, we are not the future but the present set in a futuristic context of false consciousness. We are no more than a literary trick.

X, a journalist, or somebody who believes he is a journalist, interviews MJ’s old servant. Or not.

– He liked Josipovici?

– Yes, sir, he did.

– The books? He talked of them?

– All the time, sir.

– Give me an example.

– Well, sir. He liked to sit in Peter’s Yard, he could sit for long periods sipping a cup of tea and eating a rock of a scone crumb by crumb. It was cheaper than paying for heating and so forth at home.

– The Scottish mentality then?

– I suppose you could say that, yes.

– He paid for you too?

– I paid for myself. Out of the wages he said he would pay me.

– Give me an example of his talking about Josipovici.

Rest is here:

https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2015/11/06/infinity-the-story-of-a-m... ( )

I find it incumbent upon me to change 3 stars to 5 stars and to write an entirely different review in addition to the flippancy of below.

“Non sminuite il senso di ciò che non comprendete.”
G. Scelsi, Octologo

"Do not belittle the meaning of what you do not understand."
G. Scelsi, Octologo

I cannot help feeling there is a message here for both MJ and me. My post on this last week was not only flippant, but premature.

The rest of this straight review is here:

https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/another-take-on-infinity-...

-----------------

It may be 2075. Rumours about MJ are rife. One has it that he is dead. Another that he has simply tired of the world and sits alone in a castle somewhere writing reviews he shows no one. And yet another that none of this is more than an experimental work in which he has given his characters the illusion of choice. In this one, we are not the future but the present set in a futuristic context of false consciousness. We are no more than a literary trick.

X, a journalist, or somebody who believes he is a journalist, interviews MJ’s old servant. Or not.

– He liked Josipovici?

– Yes, sir, he did.

– The books? He talked of them?

– All the time, sir.

– Give me an example.

– Well, sir. He liked to sit in Peter’s Yard, he could sit for long periods sipping a cup of tea and eating a rock of a scone crumb by crumb. It was cheaper than paying for heating and so forth at home.

– The Scottish mentality then?

– I suppose you could say that, yes.

– He paid for you too?

– I paid for myself. Out of the wages he said he would pay me.

– Give me an example of his talking about Josipovici.

Rest is here:

https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2015/11/06/infinity-the-story-of-a-m... ( )