A Family Failure by Renate Rasp (1967)

In wondering why this novel isn't better known in English-speaking circles I think the first thing to consider is the title. I'm guessing it was chosen by Eva Figes, the well-known experimental novelist who was its translator. She had a perfectly serviceable title already in the direct translation of the original German one - something along the lines of A Wayward Son. Instead, and unaccountably, she chose to change it to the frankly dreary one it now has. If this novel is ever republished I would vote for it to have its true title restored, now that Figes has passed on and can't complain - if she had been minded to. But otherwise, I'm struggling to see why it isn't more known. It is Kafkaesque, which in itself ought to be enough to guarantee an audience, let alone that it's a fascinating absurd dissection of the pressure brought to bear by the overbearing. In this instance there is an enigma of origin - the child main character, Kuno, is living with his mother and his uncle, who is somehow now his stepfather. We have no notion of how this happened. His uncle is an intimidatory planner, who wishes to fashion Kuno into some image that perhaps only he can see. Kuno's mother, Annemarie, is totally in his stepfather's grip, falling into doubt on occasion, mainly due to her love of Kuno, but then quickly 'realising' how wrong she has been, and how brilliant the stepfather's plans are. Kafkaism comes into play fully here, for the plan is no small one. Kuno will become.......a tree. There are books and books of notes and diagrams that Felix, the stepfather, has written up. There are stages to the conversion that must be obeyed : Kuno must of course learn to stand still for long periods in the corner of rooms; he must then learn to transfer all of his weight onto one leg, which will be his 'trunk'. He must be potted and left on the balcony and experiments must be made with watering him. Other experiments fail, and there are periods of disgust with Kuno, where all seems lost and his uncle fumes. He finally must be.......pruned. With his hands freshly sheared off, and having lost lots of blood, he bravely lingers on for some time in bewildered pain, eventually collapsing over the edge of his pot like a wilting monstera, to be discovered fearfully by his mother, who tries desperately to get him standing again so uncle won't be disappointed. But it can't be done; the big plan has come to nothing except hand stumps. Rasp details all this with quiet directness, the exact recipe required, with only occasional slipping back and forth in time interrupting complete clarity. Kuno is bemused at first and always feels that he really should try to please his stepfather. Annemarie is strangely erotic in his eyes; he's very aware of her not only as his mother, but also as his uncle's lover, and she looms near Kuno himself sometimes in this way, brushing against him. On a couple of occasions he hears/sees them making love. Annemarie is also nervous, conniving, biddable and very squashed (if there ever were a film, Lesley Manville would do her proud). Felix is convincingly a pocket dictator, with ever-changing moods which require to be fallen-in with, a spoiled spattiness which won't tolerate dissent, and an imperious pseudo-knowledgability which has all the answers. I wonder how much of this is Rasp's own history? Here's hoping not too much, or if so, that the writing of this was excellent therapy.