A Short Introduction to Anneliese - James Elkins

A Short Introduction to Anneliese is the second volume in author James Elkins’ multi-volume mega-novel Five Strange Languages being published by Unnamed Press, all of which trace the final year of Samuel Emmer’s life before he disappears. When Samuel Emmer meets unemployed biologist Anneliese Glur for dinner during his stopover in Frankfurt, he has no notion of what to expect. Anneliese is an old friend and former colleague of his boss, and he agrees to dinner for no other reason than he has nothing better to do. As it turns out, Anneliese is a torrent of observations, digressions, theories, hypotheses, and resentments. She complains about her niece, who lives with her and her brother Paul, and about their uncle Hans, whose dementia haunts Anneliese’s concerns about the state of her own mind. She deconstructs the “awfulness” of language, calling it an ill-fitting suit, and challenges the validity of memory. Most surprising is what Samuel comes to realize by the end of this strange dinner: that the insufferable but deeply compelling Anneliese is conducting a kind of interview with him – the purposes of which are not entirely clear. A month later, back home in Guelph, Samuel finds himself on the phone with Anneliese, listening to her once again. Her monologues are wild, seemingly endless, often laugh-out loud funny, and occasionally repellent; but nothing is random, for Anneliese Glur is systematically introducing Samuel not just to her work, but to a breakdown i
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