The library
Author Roland Topor Origin France First published 1964 Genre Psychological Horror Pages 180 I read it May 2023
The Tenant
My review
The Tenant can be slow and repetitive at times, but its psychological peaks are incredible. A perfect example is when Trelkovsky contemplates losing his limbs and organs, trying to figure out exactly where the “myself” resides. His dark realization about how fragile our sense of self really is anchored the entire book for me. It’s a beautifully weird, thought-provoking horror novel, even if it drags a bit in the middle.
My favourite quote
At what precise moment, Trelkovsky asked himself, does an individual cease to be the person he—and everyone else—believes himself to be? Let’s say I have to have an arm amputated. I say: myself and my arm. If both of them are gone, I say: myself and my two arms. If it were my legs it would be the same thing: myself and my legs. If they had to take out my stomach, my liver, my kidneys—if that were possible—I could still say: myself and my organs. But if they cut off my head, what could I say then? Myself and my body, or myself and my head? By what right does the head, which isn’t even a member like an arm or a leg, claim the title of myself? Because it contains the brain? But there are larva and worms, and probably all sorts of other things, that don’t possess a brain. What about creatures like those? Are there brains that exist somewhere, and say: myself and my worms?
