Fame, By Daniel Kehlmann

 

Boyd Tonkin
Friday 14 October 2011 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

This "novel in nine episodes" from the Austrian maestro takes us deep into that new space where networked gadgetry reconfigures private souls and public roles.

In deftly interlinked stories of technology, celebrity and mortality, clever metafictional games coincide with unironic reflections on loneliness, and ageing. Kehlmann plays his modish material for laughs, but also packs a punch.

Smart, comic but moving, the stories (translated by Carol Brown Janeway) shift from chat-room geek-speak to the touching melancholia of a sick woman at a suicide clinic, and the terminal fantasies of a Paolo Coelho-style New Age guru.

For all its tricks and ruses, Fame emits a steady signal of compassion for bewildered humans caught in the grip of the modern machine.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in