The Frog in the Throat

This effervescent 1985 novel from Swiss author Werner (On the Edge), who died in 2016, follows a ruined middle-aged man haunted by the ghost of his father. Franz, a divorced former clergyman who was defrocked after cheating on his wife, receives frequent visits from his late father, Klement, who appears as a frog in his throat. That’s about it for the plot; what drives the narrative are the men’s irresistible voices, as Franz rues his past decisions (“I sit around, I drink, I brood, I pat myself down for flaws and find many”) and Klement, a socialist dairy farmer, presses his religious and philosophical convictions onto his son (“You stern Franz, now you have no choice, the only possible way forward for you is to sin, and therefore it is no sin”). As each character attempts to justify his existence, Werner fashions their competing viewpoints into a wry treatise on modern masculinity. Brilliantly translated by Hofmann, who provides an illuminating introduction, this sly and strange father-son dialogue deserves to be a cult classic. (Mar.)