The Review of Contemporary Fiction
Leonardo's Hands by Alois HotschnigBrian Budzynski
Alois Hotschnig. Leonardo’s Hands. Trans. and foreword by Peter Filkins. Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1999. 146 pp. $12.00.
Rarely can the language in a work of fiction reflect its story successfully; often the best one may hope for is a gossamer connection to certain isolated indicatives. However, Alois Hotschnig’s harrowing tale of desperation and addiction achieves this with a style both intimate and powerful. The unique language lines each passage with teeth, sharply tearing through the facades built up by its characters. Tracing the bizarre aftermath of a fatal car accident through a myriad of affected voices, the novel unfolds with an underlying vibration of defeat, of utter disintegration. The characters’ growing detachment from the world around them is reflected perfectly in the hopeless tone of the novel which syphons passion from every word, leaving a bare language which foreshadows the characters’ imminent fate. While this detachment, inefficacy, and guilt-laden fear surround them, the novel’s theme of hopelessness cannot be usurped by the attempted loving connection of its two main characters. The grasp for understanding and love becomes nothing more than “a killing hand that caresses.”
Benefited in no small part by the wonderful translation of Peter Filkins, Leonardo’s Hands is a simply told, complexly provocative work that exploits the madness and secrecy of the human psyche. Alois Hotschnig takes the reader on a disturbing yet exhilarating journey through the synapses of two flawed souls and reveals the hidden fears and inconsistencies of the human condition. [Brian Budzynski]