William Vollman's Europe Central was, for me, a very slow burn. I spent the first two hundred pages of this sprawling, kaleidescopic epic on the emotional sidelines, wryly observant, interested but not overly engaged. Vollman's characters, I thought, were intriguing, but also annoying. His prose was full of vivid detail, but a bit overblown. It was the kind of thing, I found myself thinking, that I would have enjoyed better in high school, when drama needed to be proclaimed from on high with cannon fire in order to get my attention. Do we really need, I wondered, another novel about World War II?And then I realized that I had begun thinking almost constantly about the moral dilemmas presented in the novel. Vollman has devoted years to thinking about the "moral calculus" utilized by human beings in situations of extremity, about the ways in which people make decisions in crisis, and how that plays out in a larger pattern of violence and history. All that thinking really pays off as he draws his fictionalized portraits of historical figures from mid-century Russia and Germany; these are people placed in crucial but impossible situations, people to whom dilemmas are posed with no answer remotely "right," and Vollman traces their moral and emotional arcs with great care. I think Europe Central would make a perfect fiction companion to Rising Up and Rising Down, the same author's nonfiction examination of violence and its ramifications. Here, even more than in the factual case studies of Rising Up, the reader observes at close hand - from inside the subject's head, in fact - the protracted struggle to balance necessity and morality, to make sense of the insane circumstances in which he finds himself, to create and apply some version of a moral code. Since the novel spans decades - late 1930's to mid-1970's - the reader has time, too, to witness the effects of the passage of time, the slow (or, sometimes, lightning-quick) revisions that the characters must make to their moral codes under the weight of events, emotions, or simply old age. Europe Central features a wide swath of characters, from artists and poets (most prominently the Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich) to generals and spies. Although I'm generally not a fan of military fiction, this book surprised me: for my money, the most compelling episodes were two long pieces devoted to generals (the Russian Vlasov and the German Paulus) who each defected to the opposite side. Vollman's portrait of two giant powers, both irrationally fixed on the idea of Total War - no retreat under any circumstances - communicates the claustrophobic plight of military professionals trained to practice battle-craft as a strategic art. The chain of command dictates that both Vlasov and Paulus must follow orders, and their leaders' commitment to Total War means that the orders will never permit retreat, even for strategic purposes. Even when their respective armies are starved, surrounded, frozen and out of fuel and ammunition, they are ordered to succeed, and punished for disobeying orders. What's more, the cult of personality surrounding Hitler means that Vollman's Paulus must never doubt the ultimate wisdom of his Führer's orders, or his entire moral universe will crumble. It's fascinating to watch this tension between Paulus's false faith and his professional's knowledge of the battlefield play out in test after test. Will he defy orders when he knows the battle is unwinnable? When he realizes that successful escape is impossible? When he understands that all his men will likely die pointless deaths? In each of these scenarios Paulus remains ferociously loyal; it is only when he witnesses the casualness with which Hitler expects him to take his own life that his internal walls begin to crumble. His ultimate decision, to allow himself to be taken alive by the Soviets, is one that would never occur to me as a betrayal, especially after the grueling fighting he led. But by his own moral lights, he has betrayed his Führer and his former self, and must conceptualize himself anew as a Russian collaborator. All of his assumptions are suddenly up for reconsideration. His bitterness at being treated so unreasonably combines with his more objective misgivings - and, of course, the pressure of the Soviet propaganda machine - and he becomes a vocal critic of the government he'd almost died to defend.All of the characters in Europe Central are deeply flawed, if not downright unlikeable. After all, many of them are working to strengthen two of the most oppressive nation-states in living memory: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Russia. Many of the episodes are narrated by semi-faceless mid-level functionaries in the Nazi or Communist parties, men who have been completely indoctrinated in the nonsensical bigotry of the party line. Even those characters who don't support their country's favored brand of totalitarian oppression are endowed by Vollman with irritating mannerisms and/or infuriating qualities; there are no kind, easy, socially enlightened resistance-fighter heroes for whom the reader can cheer. Yet, with a few exceptions, even the most unlikeable people in the book evoke, at times, a spark of sympathy in the reader. And although eight hundred pages of unlikeable people is an understandably hard sell, I honestly believe the characters' deep complexity is what makes the novel so compelling. World War II is often viewed, especially by Americans, as "the good war," a clear-cut battle of the Light of freedom and tolerance (in which we see ourselves) battling the Dark of oppression and bigotry (Hitler's Germany). Vollman strips away this simplistic vision by the simple act of looking at the war's eastern front: between two oppressive, power-mad totalitarian regimes, between two all-seeing surveillance and propaganda machines, between two starved wastelands across which humans are transported to secret locations and subjected to atrocities, the choice is much less clear. Caught between two such choices, it takes remarkable strength of vision to imagine, let alone fight for, a third option, even when that third option is a dire necessity. As he paints these characters' struggles of loyalty - between Hitler and Stalin, between the collective and the self, between the party line and their own integrity - Vollman blurs all lines that separate one side from the other. A spy who uses his racial privilege to join the SS and expose their crimes, yet who fails to obtain international cooperation - are his hands clean? A composer living under seige, whose children are starving, and who wants to believe that music can actually help turn the tide of the war, writes a program symphony that tows the party line - to what extent has he compromised his integrity? A Soviet general, soured on Stalin's machinations, who allows himself to be convinced that collaboration with Germany will enable him to fight for the liberation of Russia, and who tells himself that rumors of concentration camps are another example of Soviet slander - where does he fall on the moral spectrum? And how can my own sympathy as a reader be more with a German general than a conflicted Soviet artist? In observing the progress of each of these characters through their personal decision-making processes, and the vast moral gray areas involved, one begins to question one's own black-and-white view of the Second World War. Indeed, Vollman ends the book with a meditation on black, white, and shades of gray. I've noticed that many people recommend this novel for World War II history aficionados, but I think that's slightly beside the point. Vollman is writing fiction; he creates full emotional lives and narrative voices for his characters such that the final products could only be suggested by, not true to, the historical record. History buffs who cringe at factual liberties and poetic license would be well-advised to stay away. No, as I see it, the people who ought to read this novel are those intrigued by the human psyche in times of great crisis, or fascinated by the cycle of violence on a grand historic scale as well as a personal, internal one. The truly thoughtful reader will also learn from observing the shifting sands of her own sympathies as she reads.
Recommended for: Vollmanniacs, music & history lovers. " The majority of my symphonies are tombstones." D.D. Shostakovich Europe Central is Vollmann's imaginative take on 20th century's twin evils of Stalinism & Nazism as witnessed during the horrific years of the second world war. A book that wraps itself in Kabbalah mysticism, Germanic myths & legends; is not your 'typical' history book– for starters, you don't get to hate Hitler! Most people will stop reading after the chapter Opus 40, wondering, is this about the war or musical themes! Brace yourself, there's also full dissection of Shostakovich's Eleventh Symphony & it all makes thematic sense cause this is a book where war sometimes is presented in musical terms & music in martial ones– Hitler after all, presents himself as a Wagnerian hero & the final evocation of Opus 110 brings into sharp focus, perhaps the main thesis, that in a repressive, brutal, totalitarian regime; Art maybe shaped & defined by the circumstances but ultimately great art transcends it & thus, while dictators like Stalin & Hitler, have rightly been consigned to the dustbins of history, Shostakovich's music lives on! Europe Central will give readers a new understanding into this genius composer's work & to me that's the single, biggest achievement of this book. The narrative gives broad brush strokes of general state of affairs in both USSR & Germany & then zooms in on key personages to highlight those concerns— so you get German Jewish artist Käthe Kollwitz whose work is exploited by the communists for propaganda purpose, poetess Anna Akhmatova "...an aloof mannequin. That was how we liked her! Unfortunately, her presence electrified any crowd. To me, this proves that we hadn't been sufficiently strict with her. An aloof mannequin she might have been, as still as water under ice, but our task was to freeze her solid, in this we never succeeded: after all, Akhmatova was the poet of "Requiem" ...which I'm sorry to say I've heard on the lips of students, prisoners, prostitutes, peasants and kerchiefed factory women," and of course Shostakovich, whom the Soviet State willy-nilly made toe the official line but whose work remained subversive for those who had "the ears to hear it!". Think of the condition of dissidents in China & the situation in Syria & you'll get a faint idea of what life under Soviet communism and German fascism could be like! Almost makes one grateful for democracy! There's a wealth of war trivia & details to warm the heart of any student of military science but what's remarkable is the presentation of it—Vollmann juxtaposes the war narratives of both sides & lets the readers see how similar General Vlasov & Field Marshal Paulus' moral predicaments are—their ill-clad, ll-equipped, starving men dying because their megalomaniac leaders won"t allow a retreat! "In olden times, wars were waged by heroes who admired one another but found themselves forced by fate or blood revenge to do each other harm. In our time, we fought for hateful ogres against other ogres equally hateful. From a practical point of view, can't it be argued that nothing has changed?" Balance Stalin's 'Great Purge,' the 'Red Terror,' his Siberian retreats called the 'Gulags,' his NKVD orchestrated sudden 'disappearance' of members of intelligentsia in Black Marias, the mass graves, Collectivization– against Hitler's sleepwalking an entire generation of Germans into the abyss of madness, the 'Final Solution'— and it's hard to say who's the bigger monster– the writer rightly lets History judge them.*As he says in his bookslut interview** : "In a way. You know in Europe Central it’s too easy just to say, "Oh, the Nazis were terrible, the Stalinists were awful." And that’s true, but where do you go from there? If you can realize the deeper truth, which is not only that were they terrible but if I were born in that time and place, I probably would’ve been one. And even if I resisted with all my being, I would still have characteristics of one, no matter what I did.(...) So if you were born in the third Reich, and all you ever heard was that Germany was the greatest and the Jews were very dangerous and poisonous and Slavs were inferior and this and that, maybe you could, if you were really compassionate and brave, throw some of that off. But deep down, you would probably still feel somewhat good about Germany. You know you would still think, oh Germany is a really progressive place and probably the rest of the world is a little primitive. That’s probably the best you could do." Vollmann's narrative choice here is very interesting— sometimes impressionistic, sometimes surreal, the narratives overlap– the Russian narrator Comrade Alexandrov reminded me of the intelligence guy in Lives of Others (do watch it), but the German narrator was the tricky one- a shape shifter, a myth,a ghost, a Pynchonesque figure (yes there's a rocket!)— the narration altered so seamlessly from one to the other that you don't realize when it turned omniscient & when dear Mr.Vollmann chipped in! Any book on literary fiction, worth its salt, would tell you to pay attention to what comes in the middle, the heart of a book, so to speak— the Holocaust comes in the middle in EC— but Vollmann doesn't go for your tear ducts,there's no sensationalising or cheapening of this tragedy— a few brutal sentences, here & there, & you get the picture. This is my first Vollmann. Two of my fav writers— Graham Greene & Joseph Conrad are hugely political but whereas Greene's world weariness is relieved by his humour, Conrad's dominated by his moral vision— I don't remember laughing while reading Europe Central, maybe a chuckle here & there but that's about it— Vollmann is so deadly earnest & he refuses to judge even though EC was written as "a series of parables about famous,infamous and anonymous European moral actors at moments of decision." Also don't get me started about the 'repetitions'-- after a while, I stopped counting the line "Elena, you're lucky you didn't marry me."! ( Maybe he used it as a leitmotif).Vollmann turned Shostakovich into such a neurotic, that at times I wondered if I was reading about Woody Allen! The second half of the book runs at breakneck speed covering too much ground– the division of Germany, political reprisals in East Germany, the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall, & ending with the start of the cold war– it's a huge canvas! Give this book proper time & attention. If I've to recommend it to someone, I'd ask them to read the five- paged Zoya chapter or the 50 pages Kurt Gerstein one called "Clean Hands." In fact, there are so many powerful chapters here– the last two chapters, Lost Victories ( the loser's need for postmortem) & The White Nights of Leningrad ( where Vollmann the artist takes over, it's so visually stunning!), remain in the mind long after the book is closed. My interest in Vollmann was piqued when I read in an article that he made DFW insecure & that the latter envied his prolific output- Wallace was constrained by his agoraphobia whereas Vollmann has always gone to the source of his inspiration–the Arctic,the druggies,the prostitutes. May the wellspring of his inspiration never run dry! And now your reward for reading this loooong review: Feast your eyes on the chthonic heavenly visage of WTV! Links for Europe Central: NYT review:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/boo...(**) Bookslut interview:http://bookslut.com/features/2005_11_... Empathy for the Devil: More Tender But No Less Ambitious, William T. Vollmann Opens a New Chapter in His Already Prolific Career With Europe Central | Baltimore City Paper:http://www2.citypaper.com/arts/story.... Featured Author series on NYT: William T. Vollman- The New York Times Book Review Contains discussion of most of his books: A must read.http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2004/0... WTV's profile on NYThttp://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/06/boo...( *) "The moral equation of Stalinism with Hitlerism is nothing new. V. Grossman made that best in his novel Life and Fate. Here it's merely a point of departure." From Vollmann's notes on EC.
What do You think about Europe Central (2005)?
I'm setting this aside after just 98 pages. It needs to be said that as interesting as his subject matter is, and as inspired as his prose can sometimes be, there lurks in his work a creepy, pervy, voyeur who writes with one hand and whacks off with the other. His work is self-indulgent and the reason he won't let editors change his books is so he can continue his self-indulgence 'til he climaxes.Vollmann and I are done for awhile...EDIT 9/25/14: Okay, I'm going back in. I'm going to read the next 100 pages and see what happens.
—Jim
4.5/5If you have no interest at all in learning massive amounts about World War II, this book is not for you. As a matter of fact, if you are not in the mood for facts and quotations and references galore packaged in a semi short story fashion, refer to the previous statement. However, if you are alright with that sort of thing, you are in for a treat.I will admit, I panicked a little bit once I realized how jam packed this book is with historical trivia. As if that wasn't intimidating enough, the writing loves its metaphors and imagery, and often descends into extended fantastical meanderings. Lots of eagles and octupuses and letters formed in physical settings. It was definitely overwhelming at the beginning, and contributed to the lengthy amount of time I took to finish the book.What helped me get my bearings and start to enjoy the book was the decision to interpret the phantasmagoric quality to the writing as the author's effort to convey just how crazy this time was. I have no idea if that's what the author intended, but it seemed to work. In fact, a prime example of this is the map insert at the beginning, which consists of an outline of Europe covered in names of military operations, as well as nearly nonsensical warlike doodles. The further you get in the book, the more ridiculously brutal the events become, especially during the parts concerning Shostakovich. He of all the characters most clearly comprehends the menace that surrounds everyone, but more importantly he understands that despite objections to the contrary, none of it makes any sense. And it never will.Throughout the book, there are a number of characters whose morals are challenged, who are forced into compromising situations and decisions by the murderous chaos surrounding them. Some of them, like the Berlin sleepwalker, are thought by many to have a hand in the chaos, but they are in truth just as trapped by historical events as the rest of them. The only difference is their position, and how willing they are to disengage from reality in order to do what needs to be done. If this doesn't makes sense, to those who wish to know, the sleepwalker is (view spoiler)[Hitler (hide spoiler)]
—Aubrey
I read Europe Central in order to find out what is going on in experimental fiction these days. First, I picked up the Audible edition (easy to do when you're spending points) but one hour in I knew I needed to see the text. Russian names. Fragments of overheard speech. Impossible events. Next, I picked up the iTunes edition (even easier to do) but this wasn't right either. I wanted to underline, to draw arrows, to write exclamation points in the margins...leave my mark. So I ordered a used print copy on Amazon. When it arrived I found out something about the hardcover edition that was not true of the other two editions: it was not easy to pick up...literally. Eight hundred pages including fifty pages of footnotes. Daunting. Still, in for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. More like five pounds.William T. Vollmann is an ambitious writer. In Europe Central he sets out to make the defining event of the 20th century, World War II, ingestible. Not DIgestible...there is no clarity here. INgestible, as in...the reader takes in the text and responds at the gut level. He focuses on defining moments in the lives of a few persons living in Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany during the war. We get very close (inside-the-head close) to artists, generals, spies, scientists...and, of course, the dictators themselves. There is no plot. When people talk about a story being "plot-driven" or "character-driven", they are looking at the story arc. There is story here, but no arc. I would say that the story that there is in each "chapter" is language-driven.. The author...not fact (although there is much fact here--historical names, dates, places, etcetera)...the author is in charge. Example: Elena Konstantinovskaya was actually blond but Elena the character has long dark hair, which fits better into the imagery throughout. There is no sequence. The "chapters" are paired. Each pair comes at a topic or theme from opposite sides. Zoya speaks out before she is hung; Gerstein records atrocities before he is shot.There are many narrators. The first person pops up in text, and the reader has to figure out who is talking...and the narrator can change mid-chapter...without so much as a new paragraph. Russian omniscient voice, German omniscient voice, communications specialist, rocket science bureaucrat, secret policeman, cultural minister.... Even Shostakovich (about whom there are multiple chapters) shows up in first person a few times. And since there are many pairs in this book, I'd say that one 1st person narrative voice I hear is the Author's Double.Here the narrator is a dutiful communications specialist in a windowless office in Romania. Presumably he has followed the war since 1938 ("Away flees Chamberlain...") up to a pivotal moment in 1945, through his access to the vibrating wires. Now he enthuses about Germany, now Russia, whomever is in power ("One has to be on the watch..."). But then the voice of the author edges in. ("The receiver clamps to a mouth and an ear.") The specialist comments in parentheses: " I thought they were mine." The text moves away from the purview of the specialist. I hear the author predicting the future. ("In spite of mass commitment, there were not enough components.") I hear the author asking questions about WWII. ("What set steel in motion?") The author, not the Romanian specialist, is "...preparing to invade the meaning of Europe." I loved some of the "chapters" (Vollmann refers to them as parables) and hated a couple of them. I used the Internet to look up stuff and learned a lot. I will read Vollmann again. In hardcover.
—Linda
