Malina Compendium

Passages

Page 6: "On that evening I realized beyond a doubt that I could not count on art, technology or this age to help me in any way, and that I would never have anything to do with the thoughts, themes or problems under discussion." This seems like an exact opposite to so much of what we've read, as well as a direct opposite of the impulse that I imagine would be the impetus for a novel. It's a fascinating idea with which to start a piece of art, with the realization that art cannot do anything for this main character.

Page 65: "Ivan hasn't been warned about me. He doesn't know with whom  he's running around, that he's dealing with a phenomenon which can also be deceiving, I don't want to lead Ivan astray, but he will never realize that I am double. I am also Malina's creation." To this point, Malina continues to be mentioned only casually, but it's incredibly clear (you know, from more than just the title) that he's the driving force behind pretty much everything. Yet the way that this is made clear, most often, is through these tiny, tiny moments, the smallest comments.

Page 82: "Of course Ivan didn't say anything against Malina either, he never gives him a thought, and why should Ivan be jealous of Malina's living here with me? He doesn't mention Malina for the same reasons you don't talk about a prisoner or someone who is mentally ill, out of a feeling of tact for the family…" What in the world is going on?

Page 134: "And although it disgusts me to look at him, I must, I have to know what danger still is written in his face, I have to know where the evil originates, and I am frightened, but in a different way, for the evil is in a face I do not recognize, I am crawling over to a strange man whose hands are sticky with dirt. How did I get into this, how did I fall into his power, in whose power? In my exhaustion I have a suspicion, but the suspicion is too great, I strike it down at once, he cannot be a stranger, this cannot have been in vain and can never have been deceit."

Techniques

Page 3: "…but I can't get very far in my description, because new details are constantly arresting my attention…" At least early on, this seems about as on-the-nose thematically as can be, and yet is clearly used to refer to a very specific moment that is clearly relevant in the progression of the paragraph. We're essentially just setting the scene, figuring out time and place of the world into which we're entering, and yet already seeing the mind of the narrator seem to slide constantly around incredibly involved yet mercurial concepts.

Lengthy sentences that jump through multiple memories and events/times, oftentimes the leap being more emotional than any seeming logical connection.

Page 24: "…and so nothing diverts my attention from waiting, when the telephone stays still. Vienna is silent." This is just absolutely brilliant. We've been wandering through huge mindscapes for a while, jumping through all kinds of concerns, and then the scene is shut down with a tight, small, three-word sentence that slows everything down immeasurably and also manages to quiet the concern over noise that has been the driving force behind everything up to now. Just incredibly well done.

Page 31: "I can only think about the salt which isn't on the table yet, and about the butter I left in the kitchen, and I don't say it out loud but I take it upon myself to find Ivan a beautiful book, because Ivan hopes I won't write about the three murderers, he hopes I won't add to the world's misery in any book, I'm no longer listening to him." Once again, this book floats from the incredibly specific (the salt and butter) out to a more general subject (the characters' concerns about beauty and darkness and misery) while still holding onto the specific in Ian and the books, and then ends by tying the two of those together with the specificity of no longer listening showing a disagreement as to worldview also.

The lines of dialogue sometimes seem to be two people talking, and other times only show one person's side of the conversation -- interestingly, usually not the narrator's side. The first one that's entirely from the side of the narrator is on page 87. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, at least in section one, the dialogues start out as dialogue and seem to be fracturing into single sides of the conversation. Perhaps this is supposed to be mirroring some fracture in the book?

The date is almost always today. There are moments when other dates are brought in, but they're incredibly rare and are used in reference to today -- years from today, years before today, et cetera.

Page 54: The questions. I really don't know what to do with these. They seem so general as if they could have been asked of anyone, and yet that may just be the narrator's reinterpretation of the questions, since we're not actually shown the questions that are asked.

Page 79: "Malina reaches for my glass of whiskey. How can he know it's my glass and not the glass that Ivan left, also half full, but he never drinks out of Ivan's glass, he never touches anything Ivan has handled or used just before, a plate with olives or salted almonds. Malina extinguishes his cigarette in my ashtray and not the other one, which was Ivan's ashtray this evening. I conclude nothing…Ivan and I: the world converging. Malina and I, since we are one: the world diverging." I'm not entirely sure what's happening here, but it's fascinating, the characteristics of Malina. On one hand, he has absolutely nothing to do with Ivan, to the point where they never meet and exist as if the other doesn't -- which led me to the half-hearted conclusion that perhaps they were in some way kindred spirits or somehow the same -- and yet it's Malina and the narrator who are constantly described as one being. I'm not sure what to do with that, but it bears consideration.

All these italicized portions, the narrator's own writing -- what does it create? It's all fantasy-esque, of a different world (and the blond hair is interesting, with the backdrop of WWII), but it doesn't quite feel like a story. It has a bit of a tingle of a philosophy treatise, but not entirely.

Lily? The narrator?

Page 116: "…following the proper order exactly, so first my mother, and then my sister, using the first nickname from children, then--(Upon awakening I realize I did not call my father.)" So, the parentheses here both confirm that we're in a dreamscape, which I'd been about 95 percent certain of, and also provide a haven in which the world outside of the dream can still exist?

Page 144: The missing word in the narrator's speech?

Stories/lines/ideas to steal/attempt

 Page 10: "Holding the ties of her satchel…someone who was once me…"

Page 13: "I'm aware that nobody will answer…"

Page 15: "I want to recreate a  taboo…"

Page 21: "It's not too late to learn, but there's so little time for me to put this new knowledge to use."

Page 107: "I alone am a dark story."

Page 121: "Malina: It's war. And you are the war. You yourself."