La república de los sabios (Spanish Edition)

Eggheads rule ?
Arno Schmidt's writing style is strange and creative: poetic prose meets off-the-cuff chatter. First published in 1957, The Egghead Republic is a sci-fi fantasy-comedy which takes place in a post-apocalyptic 2008. Basically atom bombs have been dropped in a mad European war and

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everything (as you might expect) has changed. Mutated half-human species (both beautiful and weird) roam the peculiar wilderness and inhabit the science labs. We follow an American reporter on his investigative journey to a jet-propelled island known as "The International Republic of Artists & Scientists" (IRAS) - viz. The Egghead Republic, where geniuses of all kinds live and work in a protected utopia.

I enjoyed greatly the translation of Schmidt's writing style: the flamboyant constantly meets the down-to-earth; the author's humour and sarcasm comes through in abundance. The overall story is perhaps less strong: this is more a literary report than a story, and occasionally I felt fazed by the author's flippancy and quirky commentary. Also, the weird-wondrous beginning flattens out somewhat as the protagonist explores the island.

Unusual in both style and content, I'd define The Egghead Republic as a novel for readers who like a challenging and untamed yarn written in an easy-going, if experimental, form.

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