

Loading... Moss (1984)by Klaus Modick
![]() Found manuscripts (26) No current Talk conversations about this book. ![]() In the case of Moss, I anticipated a blend of reflective essay (perhaps more botanical than philosophical, though I was hopeful for both) and modern Weird fiction. I'm drawn to that strain of Weird with commentary on reason and rationality, so to my mind such an expectation wasn't outlandish. Modick here incorporates several tropes into his novel which suggested my expectations: a found manuscript; the death of the narrator's brother whose recluse lifestyle developed out of his work in psychological theory; the cabin in which the dead man was found, covered in moss. While it's true the novel has a strong meditative feel to it, I found it more personal than world-disclosive, and also light on Weird. The early botanical musings were tantalising, but felt more like diversions than prominent features of the story. Similarly, I saw several hints at Weird, but these also didn't pan out in terms of understanding the brother's demise. So while many elements I anticipated were in fact present, and while the tone and style fit what I'd hoped to find, still somehow the story didn't come together for me. Generally, my expectations aren't fully met in my reading. Even so, usually I enjoy the books I read, because other aspects of the story prove compelling, or other qualities in the narrative speak to other interests I have. Modick didn't provide that, though the overwhelming experience was of something lacking rather than anything proving to be explicitly bad. Looking back, I recognise there was an element of "assigned reading", since the book was awarded as part of LTER, and I felt responsible for reading it sooner than I might elsewise have done. I'm left wondering if my expectations here hindered my reading experience. It's possible I lost Modick's thread in attending overly to my expectations, rather than to where the text, in fact, led. ![]() The protagonist tries to move away from the language of (botanical) science in which he spent his adult life in order to achieve a different kind of knowledge, more holistic. While a reader may disagree with the stance of the character - Lukhas Ohlburg (and it is hard not to consider him an alter ego of the author, whose name is an anagram of the character's: Klaus), his approach to the subject matter of how to perceive reality is nevertheless compelling. ![]() David Herman, the translator, had his work cut out for him in making this German language work come alive in English, working closely with the author. Philosophical and inward-turning abstractions are reworked as poetry, as in this bit involving the advantage of a wood fire over coal: “. . . it makes me sad that I have not known, not seen, not cut down myself the trees that undergo this transformation from a luscious green to a red-hot vital force, giving life . . . No one piece looks like another—a banality that has been banal for so long that it is no longer recognized as such. Yet the variety, particularly of burl wood, is more than astounding. I attempt to estimate the age of the wood by reconstructing the size of the trees, their double life in earth and air, their simultaneous upward and downward growth. Now and then I chew small pieces of bark, especially ones that already have moss attached to them.” Moss was originally published over thirty years ago. As with Heroine, another book I reviewed recently, reading Moss I often had the sensation of a string of eternity vibrating between the past and the present. Rather than offering persistent arguments and scenarios on women and society (Heroine), Moss relates concern that political policy is ambivalent when it comes to the environment. “Could it be,” the narrator writes, relating a conversation with a friend, “that people had finally grasped that not politics but, rather, nature constitutes the true concern of mankind? But how, exactly, does one go about doing politics by means of nature?” ![]() Now, he is old and endeavoring to form a lifetime of insight into his final paper critiquing nomenclature. He questions his father's teaching and the science of his academic career as a biologist. Why do we divide ourselves from nature? What can we learn from moss? Shouldn't our goal be wonder and joy of beauty, not arcane facts and artificial categories? Returning to that family cabin, surrounded by the forest, he embraces death as part of life, the natural cycle. Science gives way to connection. When his manuscript is found after his death, it was not what people expected. He renamed it "Moss." Oh, I thought, another novel about age and death! I am already too aware of the passing years, how I have outlived so many family members! And with a pandemic, every one of us is faced with our mortality and aware of the uncertainty of life. I feel the depth of this story eludes me, calling me to reread and grapple with all that lies beneath it's misleading simplicity and the beauty of its poetry. I received a free book from the publisher through LibraryThing. My review is fair and unbiased. no reviews | add a review
An aging botanist withdraws to the seclusion of his family's vacation home in the German countryside. In his final days, he realizes that his life's work of scientific classification has led him astray from the hidden secrets of the natural world. As his body slows and his mind expands, he recalls his family's escape from budding fascism in Germany, his father's need to prune and control, and his tender moments with first loves. But as his disintegration into moss begins, his fascination with botany culminates in a profound understanding of life's meaning and his own mortality. Visionary and poetic,Moss explores our fundamental human desires for both transcendence and connection and serves as a testament to our tenuous and intimate relationship with nature. Klaus Modick is an award-winning author and translator who has published over a dozen novels as well as short stories, essays, and poetry. His translations into German include work by William Goldman, William Gaddis, and Victor LaValle, and he has taught at Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, and several other universities in the United States, Japan, and Germany.Moss, Modick's debut novel, is his first book to be published in English. He lives in Oldenburg, Germany. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumKlaus Modick's book Moss was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Popular covers
![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)833.92 — Literature German and Germanic German fiction Modern period (1900-) 1990-LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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With nature themes and a meta-literature premise narrated by an aging botanist who specializes in nomenclature, I was excited to snag this novella through LT’s Early Reviewers. Then I started it, and started it again, and again… I don’t know…the passage above captured me a couple dozen pages in, but I felt I was reading the whole rest of it with glazed eyes. (