A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler

Published 2016 · 160 pages · 33,256 words · about 2 hours at an average pace · literary fiction, philosophical fiction, Alpine fiction, novella

How hard is A Whole Life to read?

A Whole Life scores 53 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 48 out of 100
The vocabulary is generally accessible, reflecting the rural setting and the protagonist's simple life. While words like 'sodden,' 'discernible,' 'groschen,' 'bonesetter,' 'cadavers,' and 'obdurate' appear, they are either common enough or clarified by context, placing it above 'The Great Gatsby' but well below specialized texts.
Sentence structure: 55 out of 100
Sentences are often long, employing multiple clauses and descriptive phrases, particularly in the opening paragraphs and detailed descriptions of events like the avalanche or the cable car construction. However, the structure remains largely linear and comprehensible, avoiding the extreme nesting or stream-of-consciousness found in higher-scoring works like 'Ulysses' or 'The Golden Bowl'. The narrative maintains a steady, flowing pace without significant grammatical demands.
Abstraction: 58 out of 100
The narrative is primarily concrete, detailing Andreas Egger's life experiences, work, and interactions within his Alpine valley. However, it frequently interweaves philosophical reflections on life, death, memory, and human connection, particularly through Egger's internal thoughts and dialogues with characters like Horned Hannes and Thomas Mattl. This blend of grounded storytelling with underlying existential contemplation positions it above 'The Great Gatsby' but below works dominated by pure abstraction.
Information density: 52 out of 100
The text covers a vast span of Egger's life, from childhood to old age, incorporating historical events like the World Wars and technological advancements like cable cars. While many details are provided, the narrative unfolds chronologically and descriptively, allowing for a manageable pace of information absorption. It does not demand constant cross-referencing or decoding of multiple layers of meaning, unlike works with higher density such as 'Ulysses' or 'War and Peace'.
Narrative indirection: 60 out of 100
The narrative is largely chronological and clear in its events, but Egger's internal world, his deep emotions, and the philosophical implications of his experiences are often conveyed through understated observations and symbolic encounters. The text frequently describes his physical sensations and simple thoughts, leaving the profound impact of events like Marie's death or his encounter with the 'Cold Lady' to be pieced together from subtle cues rather than explicit emotional exposition.
Symbolic density: 70 out of 100
The novel is rich with recurring motifs and symbols, particularly the mountains, the earth, scars, and the personified 'Cold Lady' representing death and memory. These elements consistently carry meaning beyond their literal presence, inviting readers to interpret the deeper philosophical and emotional layers of Egger's life and his relationship with the natural world.
Ironic distance: 30 out of 100
The narrative maintains a largely direct and empathetic tone, focusing on Egger's experiences without significant authorial detachment or satirical intent. While there are occasional moments of gentle, observational irony, such as the mayor's post-war transformation, these do not create a pervasive gap between the text's surface meaning and a hidden authorial critique.
Resolution withholding: 70 out of 100
While Egger's life has a clear chronological progression and a definitive end, the narrative consistently withholds full resolution on deeper existential questions and the nature of certain experiences. The identity of the 'Cold Lady' and the ultimate meaning of Egger's solitary life remain ambiguous, leaving readers to grapple with the profound uncertainties of memory, loss, and the human condition.
Structural complexity: 35 out of 100
The narrative structure is predominantly linear, following Andreas Egger's life chronologically from childhood to death. While there are clear flashbacks to his past, these are explicitly signposted and serve to provide background rather than to disorient the reader or create complex temporal shifts. The point of view remains consistently third-person limited to Egger, without formal experiments or unreliable narration.

How A Whole Life is regarded

A Whole Life holds a literary regard score of 41 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Prizes

Where A Whole Life sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (63 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, A Whole Life scores 66 out of 100. A second mythos, tragedy, pulls at it with a weight of 0.2. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
In truth, he made his living as a kind of labourer, a hired hand for all seasons and occasions.
Symbol: Formal
Egger stood stock-still and heard the mountain start to sing.
Mythos: Irony and Satire iv (irony iv)
He had survived his childhood, a war and an avalanche.
Genre: Novel + Romance
And then he saw the Cold Lady, crossing the slope about thirty metres above him.

Where the story of A Whole Life takes place

  • Alpine valley, Austria, 1902-late 1970s (1902 to 1980), the main setting
  • Caucasus front and Voroshilovgrad POW camp, 1942-1951 (1942 to 1951)

6 things that are true of A Whole Life, with the passage for each

  1. The construction crew that arrives to build the cable car numbers 260 labourers, 12 machinists, 4 engineers and 7 Italian cooks.

    consisting of two hundred and sixty labourers, twelve machinists, four engineers, seven Italian cooks and a small number of unspecified auxiliary staff

  2. Egger proposes to Marie by having men write FOR YOU, MARIE across a mountainside in fire.

    FOR YOU, MARIE stood inscribed on the mountain in huge, flickering letters, visible for miles around to everyone in the valley.

  3. The avalanche that kills Marie strikes at half past two in the morning.

    The avalanche had come at two thirty in the morning.

  4. Egger spends more than eight years in Russia, fewer than two months of them at the front.

    Egger spent a total of more than eight years in Russia. Less than two months of this were at the front

  5. Egger writes a letter to his dead wife from the camp and buries it in the earth.

    He folded the letter up as small as he could and buried it in the earth at his feet.

  6. Horned Hannes's frozen body is found decades later in a glacier crevasse, missing a leg.

    On the makeshift stretcher lay Horned Hannes.

Scenes in A Whole Life that Frye would name

38 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Pathos, untitled
and the maid from the guesthouse, Marie Reisenbacher, Andreas Egger's young bride. The central death, delivered as an understated list of the avalanche's victims.
Anagnorisis, untitled
He saw the wind catch her hair, exposing, for a brief moment, the nape of her neck. And then he knew. The scar identifies the Cold Lady as Marie, pivoting the book's death-figure into the lost beloved.
Sparagmos, untitled
It lay on the forest floor two metres away, its fingers still gripping the hatchet. Grollerer's arm torn off by a splintering pine: dismemberment treated deadpan.
Sparagmos, untitled
The ice had torn half his face off the bone. The glacier-preserved body of Horned Hannes is a visio-malefica image of mutilation.
Pathos, untitled
And when none came, he let go and died. The hero's own death scene, quiet and accepting.
Alazon, untitled
Man is flesh and he is earth and he is a farmer and his name is Hubert Kranzstocker. The farmer's grandiose self-image as 'the word and the deed' while beating a child.

Books that share these scenes with A Whole Life

About the author

Robert Seethaler