Plot introduction

Hoban's second novel for adults, Kleinzeit is a story detailing the eponymous title character's brush with illness and creativity. When Kleinzeit is fired from his job as an advertising copy-writer, he ends up in hospital with a ‘skewed hypotenuse’, being tended by the healthy and desirable Sister. Together, they embark on a strange adventure, in which Kleinzeit struggles to get better, attempts to master his creative urges, and holds conversations with a variety of abstract concepts. The central character shares many traits with Hoban himself, and the author has commented: ‘I think there's most of me in Kleinzeit’.

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Characters in "Kleinzeit"

• Kleinzeit – the central character, whose name means ‘smalltime’ in German
• Sister – a nurse at the hospital, who begins a relationship with Kleinzeit
• Redbeard – a homeless busker who leaves Kleinzeit a sheet of yellow paper, and ends up in the same hospital ward

Major themes

Kleinzeit's physical illness and his creative urges are linked in the novel, an identification strengthened by the fact that all the diseases suffered by patients on Kleinzeit's ward (ward A4, like the paper) are literary, geometric or musical terms: he himself has a painful hypotenuse

Hypotenuse

In geometry, a hypotenuse is the longest side of a right-angled triangle, the side opposite the right angle. The length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle can be found using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that the square of the length of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the...

 and diapason and develops a faulty stretto

Stretto

The term stretto comes from the Italian past participle of stringere, and means "narrow", "tight", or "close".In music the Italian term stretto has two distinct meanings:...

, while other patients suffer from hendiadys

Hendiadys

Hendiadys is a figure of speech used for emphasis — "The substitution of a conjunction for a subordination". The basic idea is to use two words linked by a conjunction to express a single complex idea....

 or ‘imbricated noumena

Noumena

Noumena is a melodic death metal band from Finland. The band's name comes from the word noumenon, a philosophical term used by Immanuel Kant. The band consists of five members: vocalist Antti Haapanen, guitarists Tuukka Tuomela and Ville Lamminaho, bass guitarist Hannu Savolainen and drummer Ilkka...

’. The terror and allure of creativity are symbolised by the mysterious yellow paper, which Redbeard passes on to Kleinzeit. Kleinzeit's relationship with a blank piece of paper is depicted as a sexual romance, with the writing process seen as a consummation, albeit that Kleinzeit is cuckolded by the personification of Word. Many abstract concepts are similarly personified, including Death

Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....

, Hospital, the (London) Underground

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

 (which is associated with the myth of Orpheus

Orpheus

Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...

), Action and God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

.

Allusions/references to other works

As with many of Hoban's works, a number of other literary and mythical works are referred to, including:

• the myth of Orpheus
  Orpheus
  Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
  
   and Eurydice
  Eurydice
  Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...
  
  
• John Milton
  John Milton
  John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
  
  's poem L'Allegro
  L'Allegro
  L'Allegro is a pastoral poem by John Milton published in 1645. L'Allegro is invariably paired with the contrasting pastoral poem, Il Penseroso , which depicts a similar day spent in contemplation and thought.-Background:It is uncertain when L'Allegro and Il Penseroso were composed because they do...
  
  (which itself refers to Orpheus and Eurydice)
• Thucydides
  Thucydides
  Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
  
  's work the History of the Peloponnesian War
  History of the Peloponnesian War
  The History of the Peloponnesian War is an account of the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece, fought between the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League . It was written by Thucydides, an Athenian general who served in the war. It is widely considered a classic and regarded as one of the...
  
  

Release details

• 1974, London: Jonathan Cape ISBN 0-224-00964-8
• 2002, London: Bloomsbury ISBN 0-7475-5641-5, paperback

External links

• Kleinzeit at the Head of Orpheus fansite