Among the most beautiful dreams are those in which you are weightless, your feet leave the ground, and you ascend into the air.
The protagonist in the late American novelist Paul Auster's Mr Vertigo is a feisty, nine-year-old orphan named Walt, who begs for money and food on the streets of St. Louis. One night in 1927, a man in a black suit approaches him and says, "If you stay where you are, you'll be dead before winter is out. If you come with me, I'll teach you how to fly." Walt is sceptical, but figuring he has nothing to lose, he agrees to the mysterious proposal and boards a train with the character, Master Yehudi.
The book, which has been published in English since 1994, has been newly translated into Arabic by Malik Salman and published by Dar Al Saqi.
Its reference to learning to fly, without the use of mechanical aids or a magician’s trick, is about truly rising off the ground and soaring. And Walt learns to do exactly this. Throughout the book, the reader is left questioning what it means to fly.
The charm of this book lies not only in the enthralling narrative but also in its hidden symbolism. As soon as the reader thinks he or she has cracked the code, they are left second-guessing themselves. It is a magical 'fairy tale for adults' that captivates the reader from start to finish.
After disembarking the train, Walt and Master Yehudi head to the mysterious mentor’s farm in the remote plains of Kansas, where they live for three years with two other people: Aesop, a Black hunchback teenager who Yehudi is teaching so that he can go to university and become a leader to his downtrodden people; and Mama Sioux, a 50-year-old descendant of the Native American Oglala tribe and niece of Sitting Bull, a famous warrior and tribal leader.
So Walt finds himself in a household with a Jew, a Black boy, and a Native American woman, which initially makes him uncomfortable, having been raised a white boy in 1920s America. However, he soon adapts to living with those he refers to as the "outcasts of the world."
"i was twelve years old the first time i walked on water." the superb first sentence of paul auster's 'mr vertigo'. pic.twitter.com/d483lh76Vk
— Nic Rosslee (@nicrosslee) August 23, 2015
Torturous tests
Learning to fly, however, proves daunting. Master Yehudi gives Walt numerous tests, each seemingly more torturous and bizarre than the last, but the connection between the tests and flying remains lost on both Walt and the reader.
These tests include being buried alive with a long tube in his mouth to breathe through for a day under the soil, being whipped, having his body coated in honey and being forced to stand naked under the scorching sun while hundreds of flies and wasps swarm around him. He is also made to drink cow urine and eat horse manure. The top joint of his little finger is cut off, his eyes are bandaged for a week, and he is forced to stand on one leg all night.
During all this, Walt says of his master: "He no longer had to threaten me. I followed his commands with blind obedience, never bothering to question what his purpose might have been. He told me to jump, and I jumped. He told me to stop breathing, and I stopped breathing. This was the man who had promised to make me fly, and even though I never believed him, I let him use me as if I did."
Walt remains unconvinced of the purpose of his training until something unexpected happens, seemingly unrelated to any of the tests. One morning, he wakes up early and cannot find Master Yehudi anywhere, neither in the house nor on the farm. Aesop and Mama Sioux are still asleep. Believing that Yehudi has left for good, Walt is overwhelmed by intense and conflicting emotions—resentment, anger, sadness, and despair—which cause him to collapse to the ground in tears.
Ready for take-off
Moments later, a sense of calm and serenity washes over him, and he suddenly feels his body beginning to rise off the ground. Walt doesn't know how long he is suspended in the air before slowly descending. He falls asleep, and when he wakes, he finds that Master Yehudi has returned.
From that incident onwards, Walt's tests end, and he begins training to improve his flying abilities: ascending to higher altitudes, soaring for longer periods, and manoeuvring through the air.
The events of the novel then rapidly accelerate. The racist terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan, attacks the farm, burning it down. Yehudi moves on to organise shows where Walt demonstrates his flying abilities to audiences. As they tour various American towns and cities, Walt's fame grows. The shows earn them money, but Walt is eventually kidnapped, and a ransom is demanded for his release.
