Out of the Line of Fire

THIS BOOK IS SET IN HEIDELBERG, GERMANY, AND CONCERNS THE LIFE OF WOLFI, A PRIDIGY AND A STUDENT OF PHILOSOPHY. WHEN WOLFI BEGINS RELATING DETAILS ABOUT HIS FAMILY THINGS ARE A LITTLE STRANGE FROM THE START - FROM HIS FTHER WHO IS PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRAZ IN AUSTRIA TO HIS GRANDMOTHER WHO PAYS FOR HIS FIRST SEXUAL INITIATION WITH THE PROSTITUTE ANDREA. ALL, HOWEVER, IS NOT AS IT APPEARS AND GRADUALLY, AS THE NOVEL UNFOLDS, ONE BEGINS TO WONDER WHAT IN FACT IS FACT AND WHAT IN FICTION IS FICTION. THE READER IS LED THROUGH A STRANGE AND EROTIC MAZE, A MAZE WHICH QUESTIONS THE VERY NATURE OF HOW WE READ AND WHAT OUR CONCEPTIONS OF THE LITERARY IMAGINATION ARE ALL ABOUT UNTIL WE ARRIVE AT THE FINAL CATASTROPHIC TRUTH. IF EVER SUSAN SONTAG'S PLEA FOR AN EROTICS OF LITERATURE NEEDED AN ANSWER, THEN THIS IS IT.