Shawn Huelle

Reading Der Mensch Erscheint im Holozän by Max Frish

Toward the end of March, a friend and I decided to read Max Frisch's book Der Mensch Erscheint im Holozän (Man in the Holocene) together. We also decided to respond to it in writing. To that end, we devised a few rules:

  1. The book is 134 pages long. It begins on page 9 and ends on page 143.

If we read 20 pages a day, it will take us 6.5 days to read the book. If we read 15 pages a day, it will take us 9 days to read the book. If we read 10 pages a day, it will take us 13 days to read the book. (We voted for 15 pages a day.)

  1. 15 pages a day would make the following:
  • Section 1: pp. 9-24
  • Section 2: pp. 25-39
  • Section 3: pp. 40-54
  • Section 4: pp. 55-67
  • Section 5: pp. 68-84
  • Section 6: pp. 85-99
  • Section 7: pp. 100-114
  • Section 8: pp. 115-129
  • Section 9: pp. 130-143
  1. Then we added
  • Section 9a: response to http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2367/the-art-of-fiction-no-113-max-frisch
  1. We will read one section per day (skip days may be requested).
  2. We will each write one response per section.
  3. Responses may not be longer than 268 words.
  4. We are not allowed to write within one another's responses.
  5. However, we may comment on each other's responses.
  6. And we may footnote our own responses.
    9a. Said footnotes will not count toward any length restriction.

Over the next few weeks, perhaps at a rate of one every three days, I will be posting my responses to Der Mensch Erscheint im Holozän.