The Nightwatches of Bonaventura

Fans of upscale horror, postmodern literature, and literary analysis will find something to like in this unusual, fractured novel, first published in Germany in 1804. It unfolds as a series of spooky episodes, 16 “Nightwatches,” told by a ringmaster and raconteur who refers to himself as a night watchman, a spectral and sometimes melodramatic figure—“I’ve touched on my madcap deeds; but then the worst of them all is my life itself.” In baroque, often murky prose, he shares dreams, observations both literal and philosophical, literary analyses, and dark tales reminiscent of Poe and Lovecraft (“The moonlight appears and vanishes like ghosts in the arches of the Gothic cathedral”). In the “Fourteenth Nightwatch,” he describes an amorous episode from his past as a kind of madness, which leads to an examination of the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. Other chapters make reference to Macbeth, Byron, Kabbalah, Mozart, Goethe, Rubens, and much else. The copious supporting apparatus in the book, all written by Gillespie, ranges from the very helpful to the pretentious. It includes a short preface (“I have invented the term ‘tantric romanticism’ ”), a long and daunting introduction, chapter notes, bibliography, and an afterword that speculates on the pseudonymous author’s identity. Readers should dive right into the book proper, and save the rest for after, if desired. (Oct.)