Ralph Roger Glöckler
Ralph Roger Glöckler (born in Frankfurt/Main 1950) is one of the most
attentive observers of Portuguese culture. Through his interest in the
mysteries of vanished worlds, the Azores Trilogy was born, in whose narratives reality and fiction merge. "Corvo" is the first book.
It was already in 2001, before the publication of the German version, available in Lisbon under the title "Corvo. Uma viagem açoriana".
Volcanic trip
In addition to the "Madre" story, which is about the three hundred-year-old Christian cult in the Azores, the "Volcanic trip" is the third of the trilogy. The centerpiece, published for the first time in 1997, deals with the volcanic eruption on Faial in 1957 and the resulting emigration of many islanders to America, as well as the resulting philosophical consequences from the natural world. The Portuguese press compared Glöckler's work with that of Antonio Tabucchi. An important issue is the reaction of humans to the existence-threatening violence of nature. With the Azores trilogy, Glöckler has succeeded in establishing himself in the tradition of the narrating elite of travellers.
Style
The stylistic development from the travel
narrative to the romantic interior monologue is clearly visible in the
Azores trilogy. Thus, the relationship of the nun Teresa da Anunciada to
the bust of the saint of Santo Cristo dos Milagres is portrayed in a
kind of death delirium, in which the epigrams merge. The language
becomes the actual event of the book, a 'radical portrait of women and a
language that, in its fragility, is reminiscent of the sky-storming
force of baroque image worlds'.
Zum Original