Hédi Kaddour's Waltenberg: A Vast Novel of 20th-Century History and Espionage

Hédi Kaddour's novel "Waltenberg" (Éditions Gallimard) is a 700-page epic spanning the 20th century, from World War I to the Cold War and beyond. The narrative intertwines historical horrors—WWI trenches, Nazi camps, Stalin's Gulag—with high civilization, notably the intellectual seminars at Waltenberg hosted by Madame de Valréas, featuring philosophers Merken and Regel, physicist Tellheim, economist Maynes, industrialist Van Ryssel, journalist Max Goffard, writers Hans Kappler and Édouard, and soprano Elisabeth Stirnweiss. Central is the love triangle between Lena (an alto singer), Max, Hans, and Lilstein. Lilstein, a survivor of both Nazi camps and the Gulag, recruits the reader as a spy, revealing Eastern secrets and the art of Linzer Torte. The novel explores the power of dreams and bitterness, with a style characterized by long, comma-driven sentences and abrupt chapter endings.