They conceal much more than zeal, though.
The novel’s various languages serve as a veil, a diversion from the intensity that must thrive in the shadow of obscurity. “His eyes had a melancholy, consumptive sheen, so Pinto was compelled to consider his widening pupils, until the Rittmeister averted his gaze, a breath too late.” So much so that even the simple act of looking takes on a predatory hunger, Sensory and hypnotic, his existence weaves a thread of eroticism through the mundane. As a result, Pinto’s desire is as devoid of shame as it can be for that time period, allowing him to experience every facet of life, both openly and in secret. Wonderfully, The World and All That It Holds is not a coming-of-age tale at least not as far as the body and its passions are concerned. In one of its darker corners, a man enters Pinto’s pharmacy, bringing with him the titillating scent of possibility, smelling “like Vienna, like something that accelerated Pinto’s heartbeat and made his palms sweat.” With the visit of Archduke Franz Ferdinand precipitating a fate of which Pinto is as yet unaware, language takes center stage, swelling in the bustling city. As World War I breaks out, Pinto and Osman are brought together as soldiers, bound by trauma and desire, and ultimately battered by the volatile tides of time.Īnd yet, Hemon’s sweeping tale offers a subtle, sensory beginning.
The World and All That It Holds is an odyssey, one that feeds on the process of its own completion, tearing through both the heart and the body restraining it.
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