Doctor Glas

For a novel written in 1905, DOCTOR GLAS is remarkably modern. As aptly stated by William Sansom, and quoted by Margaret Atwood in her excellent introduction, "In most of its writing and much of the frankness of its thought, it might have been written tomorrow." Tyko Gabriel Glas is a young (30-ish) Swedish doctor, who to outward appearances is a successful bourgeois doctor in Stockholm. But something is askew in his world and his psyche. He had a traumatic childhood. Moreover, he is not married, and he likes to think that he is not loved. As he observes in his diary, "Nothing so reduces and drags down a human being as the consciousness of not being loved." And: "We want to be loved; failing that, admired; failing that, feared; failing that, hated and despised. At all costs we want to stir up some sort of feeling in others." But in applying those aphorisms to himself, he overlooks the attentions from a female admirer, Eva Martens. Something else clearly is at the root of his existential malaise. Perhaps it is that he thinks too much. As Glas listens to the Overture to Lohengrin, the leit-motif speaks to him: "'Thou shalt not ask!' And to this mystical sequence of notes, and these four words, I fancied I descried a sudden revelation of an ancient and secret wisdom. 'Thou shalt not ask!' Not go to the bottom of things: or you yourself will go to the bottom. Not seek truth: you won't find it, only lose yourself." Among Glas's existential difficulties are that he is a romantic and that he is sexually repressed. He takes a fancy to a younger woman, Helga Gregorius, who is married to the local Vicar, a physically repulsive (to both Glas and Helga) 57-year-old man who insists on his marital rights, to the distress of Helga, so much so that she goes to Glas for help. And Glas, out of romanticism and his own repressed sexual longing for Helga, commits himself to helping her -- first by telling Rev. Gregorius that Helga has a medical condition that makes sexual intercourse unhealthy for her, and when that no longer forestalls Gregorius's advances, by telling Gregorius that he himself has a heart condition that makes intercourse unwise for him, and when that no longer works, . . . well, I can't reveal that much of the plot. Throughout the novel, which is written in the first person in the form of Dr. Glas's diary, there is discussion and exploration of various themes or concepts -- including abortion, euthanasia, suicide, dreams, and morality -- making the novel very much one of ideas, in addition to being a novel of moderate suspense (How will Glas deal with Gregorius? Then, what will happen to Glas?). In tone and in ambiguous existential ambiance, there are some similarities to Kafka. To repeat, DOCTOR GLAS is a remarkably modern novel, and it is a minor classic.

I had a friend tell me about this book, and I'm so glad he did. I don't know why this book isn't more popular - it's fantastic. Although it was written in 1905, it's as relevant today as it was then. This is a very short book, but it is incredibly meaty. Summary, no spoilers: This story is told by way of the diary entries from Doctor Glas, a lonely, Stockholm physician. He is in his 30's, and is a virgin. He is very bright, very philosophical, and has decided that he is above caring about such things as sex, or love. That is, until Helga comes into his life. She is a patient of his, and the wife of the local pastor, also a patient. Helga is young, and beautiful, and hates her repulsive husband who she describes as a "monster," who forces sex on her. She confides all this to Glas, as well as the fact that she is having an affair with another man. Glas, desperate to help her, struggles with the notion of killing the vile minister, to make Helga happy. One of the things that makes this book so fascinating, is that Glas tells us that he will not lie. Yet, we wonder if he is an unreliable narrator - because we wonder if he is becoming unstable. Is the minister such a bad guy? Why does he want to help Helga, when she is in love with another? What has happened in Glas's past that makes him the way he is? This is a book filled with ambiguities and discusses serious issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, religion, sex, and love. The discussion is as relevant today, as it was then. And because of all this, I am recommending this book for my book club. Though only 150 pages, I just know that it will make for a great discussion, and no two people will see it exactly the same way. Highly recommended.

"Doctor Glas" (1905), by Hjalmar Soderberg (1869-1941), is the philosophically conflicted diary of Tyko Glas, a young medical doctor in Stockholm, Sweden's largest city, in the form of his personal written diary. He tells us he is just thirty years old and looking for adventure, a progressive and aesthetic intellectual in a conservative city. He disdains the many requests he receives for abortions, invariably turning them away, not of his own beliefs, but because he fears Sweden's hypocritical society would ostracize him.One day a young lady named Helga provides his life a twist, coming to his examination room, pleading for him to declare she has an "infection of the womb", so her husband of six years, Pastor Gregorius, will not touch her sexually. In truth, she has another man in mind. Glas knows Gregorius personally, and despises him for his own reasons, but after some moral agonizing, the young doctor takes the bull by the horns, "diagnosing" Gregorius with a "weak heart", telling him sex could kill him. This medically-enforced chastity drives Gregorius mad, and he "rapes" his wife out of frustration one night. To diffuse the elevating tension, Gregorius takes a brief trip to another town, during which his wife openly appears in public with her lover back home on Stockholm's streets. Glas, the first-person narrator of this book, reflects on the meaning of life, recalling the young girls he knew earlier in life, admitting he has never held a female in an embrace, and finding himself falling in love with Helga himself.In his diary, Glas wonders if abortion and murder are not similar, in the sense that both relieve a burden of life. Glas wonders if Gregorius could justifiably be killed to relieve the "burden" upon his wife Helga. He reflects on morality, love, sex, and religion, his thoughts become increasingly feverish. He debates the issue through his diary, turning through various twists of logic, trying to find a relative position which is simultaneously moral and expedient. He even goes so far as to prepare two tablets of potassium cyanide, one for the pastor, and one for himself, should his plan go badly. He clearly loses mental clarity with his obsession over this issue.Will he actually try to kill Gregorius? Will he woo Helga for himself? Will he drop the entire issue, and snap back to reality? Will he accomplish the impossible reconciliation between morality and his impulses? The resolution will be an interesting one, but Glas will offer only one insight: "Life, I do not understand you."The book itself is nicely written, the prose lovely of description, polite, high-toned, and at times romantic, and the subject matter frank, from schoolboy wonderment and embarrassment, to "husband's rights" and the moral place of abortion, euthanasia, murder, love, sex, infidelity, and unrequited love in society. The narration is elegant, and this brief novel (150pp) is actually surprisingly substantial. The tone is thoughtful throughout, and an interest