7.6 /10 1 Votes
4/5 Spotlight Language German Pages 152 Translator Christopher Middleton | 3.5/5 Goodreads Original title 'Der Blindensturz' Publication date 1985 Originally published 1985 Page count 152 Country Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Similar Before the rainy season, Our Conquest, Lichtenberg and the Little Flo, The film explainer, Luck | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Der Blindensturz (1985) (translated as The Parable of the Blind) is the title of short novel in ten chapters by German writer Gert Hofmann.
Contents
Inspired by Parabel der Blinden (1568), a painting by Netherlandish artist Pieter Bruegel, the novel tells the story of the work's creation from the point of view of the six blind men depicted in the painting. The story is recounted in the present tense, first person plural. The "we" that comprises the six blind men often seems to consist of one entity; however, most of the men have separate names and identities and will sometimes say or do things that distinguish them from the group.
Synopsis
The action of the story is concerned with the six blind men who are hired to be painted by an unnamed painter (whom the reader will come to realize is Bruegel) and their confused journey to the painter's house. After becoming lost, nearly drowned, and attacked by a dog, the men finally arrive at the painter's house where they are fed and warmed (and nearly burned by the fire). The blind men are then led to a bridge and are told to walk across it in a line, holding on to each other and screaming and eventually falling into the stream, repeatedly, while the painter paints them from inside his open window.
Translations
Der Blindensturz has been translated into English once by Christopher Middleton for Fromm International in 1989.