Some authors attain fame only to find themselves relegated to obscurity, while still alive. Such was the case with Leo Perutz, who claimed in a letter he wrote in 1949 that the entire literary establishment treated him as though he did not exist. Indeed, never had existed at all.
And yet, at one point, Perutz was a Name; an author whose writings won him the admiration of Italo Calvino, Ian Fleming (who called him a genius), Jorge Luis Borges and others.
Leo Perutz was born in Prague in 1882 in a family of Spanish-Jewish origin. In 1889, the Perutz family moved to Vienna, where Leo would live until the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, at which point he immigrated to Palestine. Later, after the war he would occasionally return to Austria. He died in 1957, in the spa-town of Bad Ischl.
My personal experience with Perutz's bibliography comes from two of his later novels: The Swedish Cavalier (Der Schwedische Reiter) and By Night Under the Stone Bridge (Nachts Unter der Steinernen Brücke). Both of which I've read in their most recent Swedish translations, published by Nilsson Förlag. Its these two works that I've chosen to focus on in this post.
Perutz does a fantastic job bringing the time-period to life; taking the reader from the opulence of the palace, to the narrow alleyways of the Jewish ghetto, allowing the reader to meet a varied cast of characters.
Perutz began working on By Night Under the Stone Bridge in 1924, but due to various circumstances he was not able to finish it until 1951. At first, newcomers may find themselves a bit confused as to whether or not its a novel they've picked up, or a collection of short-stories. Each chapter seems to be self-contained. Soon, however, characters and themes begin to re-occur and gradually, it all comes together.
The Swedish Cavalier, which was originally published in 1936, differs from By Night Under the Stonebridge in that its told in a more linear fashion and focuses on a single protagonist. The Fantastic elements are also less prominent here, than in the aforementioned work, though they still exist.
What The Swedish Cavalier has in common with By Night Under the Stonebridge is its historical setting. This time, the scene is Europe, in the early 18th century and as the story begins, two men are fleeing through a snow-clad landscape. They are a thief, whose name is never given and Christian von Tornefeld, a Swedish nobleman who is determined to join up with the army of Charles XII. Having sought shelter in an old mill, the two men are soon joined by the mill's owner. A sinister figure (perhaps a ghost?), who is in the service of the local Bishop. The Meeting with the miller will end up changing the lives of both men, forever.
The Swedish Cavalier deals with themes such as; identity, betrayal (both committed by the protagonist and against him), the search of happiness and redemption, while also being an excellent adventure story, filled with exciting moments and starring a complex and engaging anti-hero.
If one were to ask me which of these two books I preferred, I honestly don't think I would be able to give an answer. They are both fantastic reads that made me join the ranks of Perutz's admirers.
Highly recommended
(Shown below are the covers to the most recent Swedish translations)
