Geoffrey C Howes

Out of the Skies Geoffrey C Howes

Gabriele Petricek has devoted herself to the subject of blame and failure in three novels whose synopsis becomes evident as a triptych. The central theme that connects the three narratives is the question about the relationship between life and art and about the strategies that bring art into life and life into art. There are people who come out of the skies yet are not angelic or innocent, vested with talents yes, but characterised by fateful circumstances they themselves bring about. They are afflicted by life. Petricek's artificial and graphic descriptions of landscapes and weather patterns are more than harmonious transparencies for the psychological precipices of the protagonists. She follows the intricate paths of her figures in poetically high-brow and charged language.