The Vision of Emma Blau

The Vision of Emma Blau is about Stefan Blau, a German immigrant to America around the turn of the 20th Century. Through hard work, financial luck and the vision that he had of his granddaughter dancing outside of a magnificent house he manages to build a family, a successful restaurant and the Wasserburg apartment house--the most magnificent and luxurious building in his small New Hampshire town.

As I read this book I was initially disturbed by the fact that each of the characters seemed so broken. Stefan is obsessed with the image that he had of Emma years before her birth. It causes him to work tirelessly, but at the expense of his family, especially his children. As a result of their father's neglect, the three Blau children, Greta, Tobias and Robert are all less than whole. They long for things in their lives that are unattainable--just as their father was unattainable. Stefan's first wife, Elizabeth, suffers from her husband's ambition, and the lowly circumstances into which she moved when she married Stefan. Her suffering is nothing, however, compared to the suffering of Stefan's two other wives, who pay the price for Stefan's grief over the loss of each previous wife. Finally Emma is also broken. Though she had the full love and attention of her grandfather, she lacked the same attention from her own parents. Like her grandfather she is also possessed by the vision that she was a part of. The Wasserburg is a part of her. She can never leave it. It ultimately leads her to an unhappy, dissatisfying life.

Despite all of the issues that each of the characters posses, the thing that struck me is the family's inability to bond in the community. True, they were German immigrants who had to deal with the prejudice that both World Wars brought against any people from Germany or people of German ancestry. However, long before the wars and long after, the family fails to make significant connections with people outside of the Wasserburg. Their entire life takes place within the walls of the magnificent house. All of the people they know are people who live within the house--people who are just as broken as the Blau family members.

This realization, while it could have made my have less sympathy for the characters, actually led me to my tremendous like of the book and the characters. It made me see that they are realistic. It made me realize that we all have elements of our lives and personalities that place us on the fringe of society. While this may sound cynical, I don't mean it that way. Although the Blau family was set up as an extreme example of detachment from a community, they serve to show us that none of us fits in completely--we are all at least slightly on the fringe of our societies. How boring would it be if we did? The things that happen in our lives make us distinct--they also set us apart and give humanity variety. The Blau children who survive to old age eventually find places in the world where they feel comfortable. They also manage to obtain the things that they found unobtainable for the majority of their lives. This is one of our tasks in life--to become comfortable with our differences and accept ourselves for who we are. For me one of the main lessons of this book is that we achieve this self acceptance the things that we have longed for, and worked for, will be granted.

Up Next: The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks