ADDRESS UNKNOWN

 

In 1938 Kathrine Kressmann Taylor wrote a classic novel (really a 79-page short story), Address Unknown, that unfortunately still resonates in today's world. It’s an epistolary book built around the letters betwixt the years 1932 and 1934 between the partners of Schulse-Eisenstein Galleries of San Francisco, Martin Schulse (a non-Jew) and Max Eisenstein. They run a successful art gallery business. Apparently, they both originally lived in Germany. Martin Schulse has decided to move back to Germany and expand their art business in Europe. As you read this story the contents of the letters get scarier and scarier as Adolph Hitler rises in power. The author wrote the story to alert the non-believing American people at the time:

“I wanted to write about what the Nazis were doing and show the American public what happened to real, living people swept up in a warped ideology.”

Max’s first letter to Martin in Germany is filled with jealousy:

My Dear Martin, Back in Germany! How I envy you! Although I have not seen it since my school days, the spell of Unter den Linden is still strong upon me-the breadth of intellectual freedom, the discussions, the music, the light-hearted comradeship. And now the old junker spirit, the Prussian arrogance and militarism are gone.” Ahaha, wait, the good old days of German arrogance are right around the corner. Max is living the life of luxury in Germany. He bought a thirty-room bargain in ten acres of park and he now employs ten servants for the same wages as the two he had in his San Francisco home. His boys have three ponies and a tutor. Life is good. 

As the letters progress, Martin writes to Max:

“You have heard of course of the new events in Germany, and you will want to know how it appears to us here on the inside. I tell you truly, Max, I think Hitler is good for Germany, but I am not sure...The man is like an electric shock, strong as only a great orator and a zealot can be, but  I ask myself, is he quite sane?”

Now that you know what this treasure of a novel is about, grab your own copy to see what happens. You can read the entire book sitting in your easy chair in a few hours!

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I know it was a short review but if I went any further you wouldn’t have to read it. Haha. To my remembrance, I have only read three other epistolary novels, two I’ve reviewed, one I read before I started reviewing books:

World War Z by Max Brooks (see my review of 2/18/2011) is a novel full of interviews with the survivors of the zombie war. Clever idea, but I liked the movie better.

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski (see my review of 2/1/2013). A novel that goes one step further and gets into different ergodic levels. Very, Very strange novel, it tests your compos mentis.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. The story of a woman learning that her family’s past is connected to an inconceivable evil. The scariest book I’ve ever read... bar none.