The Liar [1950] – ★★★★1/2
You say a very powerful factor as not directly as attainable in your story, and that’s the way you actually seize the eye and curiosity of your reader. On this traditional novel by Danish creator Martin A. Hansen (1909-1955), our narrator is schoolmaster Johannes Vig (Lye) residing on one very small Danish island of Sandø – “a molehill within the sea”, and all of us change into “Nathanael”, an imaginary addressee of the schoolmaster’s sporadic diary-entries. Whereas teasing and taunting his reader, Johannes particulars the pure fantastic thing about the island and feedback on its most illustrious inhabitants and their relationships. Native magnificence Annemari desires to interrupt off from her long-term beau Olaf, who’s now away from the island. Olaf has been concerned in a tragic boat incident some years beforehand, the place one man died, and is outwardly not the identical anymore. In the meantime one engineer Harry takes Olaf’s place in Annemari’s life, however the state of affairs seems advanced as Olaf’s return is imminent. Because the novel so insidiously progresses, the query turns into: what’s the place or position of our narrator, mysterious Johannes Vig, in all these happenings? Is his narrative dependable?, and if not, can we differentiate reality from fiction? Whereas evoking the most effective of the epistolary literary custom, notably George Bernanos’s The Diary of a Nation Priest and Hjalmar Soderberg’s Physician Glas, Hansen penned an existential novel in regards to the gradual discovering of that means within the fleetness of life, and coming to phrases with the passage of time in a distant place the place time has stood nonetheless.
The story begins with fog enveloping the small island, surrounded by blocks of ice, which already anticipates the arrival of spring. And, by way of this mist we are able to barely discern our narrator, whose character and intentions are shrouded in simply as thick foam of thriller. As a trusted man on the island who took priestly duties, Johannes has his arms full: he has to make sense of the behaviour of the “rose of Sandø”, Annemari, who’s seemingly caught between two, or probably extra, males; assist a poor native boy in want of pressing medical remedy for tuberculosis; and push back flirtations coming from the spouse of essentially the most influential man on the island. We discover out in regards to the Sandø inhabitants from Johannes’s subjective viewpoint, and his place of authority and belief quickly unsettles us, moderately than instils our admiration, particularly when his narration turns to apathy and trouble-to-come: “for if you attain the bounds of meaninglessness, you discover that each one is a battleground the place two forces struggle, and there isn’t no man’s land”, writes Johannes. His diary will be that of a saint, satan, each or neither.
It’s what’s left unsaid by the narrator that’s, paradoxically, essentially the most highly effective on this story as it’s that which awakens our curiosity, fuels our creativeness and vegetation doubts in our minds. It’s as if Johannes is commonly on the cusp of showing to us one thing of essence, some vital piece of data that might clarify all the things, however chooses to not on the final second. So, we by no means know the place we stand with the narrator as his obvious outward benevolence in direction of others, comparable to kindness to at least one barwoman and little Tom, Annemari’s son, is usually changed together with his “devil-talk” and disturbing ideas. The narration takes us from the mundane and the instant to the religious and the everlasting within the blink of a watch as light-hearted descriptions of nature morph into deep philosophical discussions that sign doom and ponder the insignificance of life: “man is an immigrant in his personal birthplace, a passing visitor in his own residence, a fleeting being on earth”; “have we fleeting souls any lasting place apart from within the second by which we marvel at existence?”
In its essence, The Liar is post-war outpouring of existential angst and despair camouflaged as a sequence of private diary entries. In making sense of the island, its topography and pure traits, the narrator makes an attempt to search out that means and significance of this life basically. After such an occasion as conflict that annihilates all the things on its path, making all the things a historical past just about in a single day, it’s laborious to consider that we have now management of something or have a real lasting affect on something. And, even when Johannes’s job as a school-teacher permits him to make small contributions to the event of youngsters underneath his care, he then sees his previous pupils, Annemari and Olaf, seemingly forgetting his doctrines, drifting like satellite tv for pc planets away from his area, escaping his orbit and setting off on their very own unpredictable course. There may be one vast world past the confines of the small island. That enormous, vast world is now stuffed with unheard-of technological advances that might quickly come knocking on the door of Sandø, that’s nonetheless steeped in pagan superstitions. This thought is tough to absorb.
The introspective, psychologically-intense narration barely hides sexual frustration and attainable erotic longing on the a part of Johannes. Right here, we once more have no idea the place the narrator stands and who will be the object of his attraction, and even what his current romantic or sexual relationship may very well be. We solely know there’s positively one thing happening. Our guesswork will not be merely a curiosity – it’s a method for us to pinpoint the narrator’s true character. Johannes is undoubtedly intelligent and educated, and it’s his perception into others that unsettles and intrigues us, making us assume that the person could also be pulling strings behind scenes, as in a puppet theatre. Nonetheless, on the subject of himself and a few girls within the story, the narrator appears to all the time attain the bounds of his expertise of perception and remark. Each particular person writing and presenting his account to others desires to current themselves in the absolute best gentle (even unconsciously). Is that what the narrator is doing right here?
The loneliness of Johannes is obvious (at instances alleviated by his trustworthy canine Pigro), however that can also be tinged with barely perceivable hostility or a way of competitors amongst male residents. On one claustrophobically-small island, that’s most likely nearly inevitable. The modernity and future is represented by forward-thinking, dashing younger man Harry, an engineer and a stranger to the island, whereas sturdy and homely Olaf, who will be mistaken for some Odyssean hero, stands for the island’s traditions, pagan mysticism and a farmer’s lifestyle. Johannes could also be discovered someplace between these two males, and, therefore, on the symbolic crossroads, although, by way of his non secular upbringing, he nonetheless inclines in direction of Olaf. Nonetheless, it’s most curious that Annemari chooses “unique” and “progressive” Harry over “comprehensible” Olaf. If Annemari symbolically represents Sandø, it’s also then clear what path Denmark and its individuals will comply with within the the forthcoming years after the conflict.
🐦“Every thing is accurately”, the narrator lastly says, but it surely sounds extra like “so it goes” by Kurt Vonnegut. In a round style, the story reaches its finish by way of the symbolism of birds, searching and the approaching of spring. The Liar is a haunting story with one unreliable, progressively disturbing, first-person narration set on one remoted Danish island, and is a towering achievement of its creator, who managed to provide a full novel out of first a brief story after which a radio play. His perseverance paid off since he believed in his story, and perseverance additionally served Johannes, however at what value? Once more, invoking the searching metaphors, one could ask what needed to die so one can reside? Hope is discovered, however not and not using a ton of nostalgic melancholy following shut behind. However, the once more, isn’t it additionally true that we recognize gentle a lot as a result of we even have the expertise of darkness?
