Sad strains of a gay waltz
Subtitle: a novel
By: Irene Dische.
Edition: 1st American ed.
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 305
Subjects: Mathematicians -- Fiction.; Germany -- Fiction.
Description: Benedikt von Wallerstein, an ascetic mathematician, had always eschewed human company, preferring calculations to emotions. But with the onset of a debilitating illness, Benedikt suddenly longs for a child. His advertisement seeking a boy for adoption is answered by Valery, an impoverished Russian refugee, and Marja, his mother, an unkempt, energetic pianist. With this unlikely pair, Benedikt undergoes a hilarious, agonizing sentimental education.

Against the background of a Germany swollen by reunification and corrupted by its economic miracle, Marja learns the Teutonic virtues of cleanliness and order but teaches Benedikt the seductive disorder of love, jealousy, and loss.