'Exorial'
Eugen Grosche
Entwurf des Buchumschlags
| The book "Exorial" is a collection of short stories comprising seven narratives. Although these are advertised in the frontispiece as chapters of a novel concerning "a demonic being", only one of them in fact deals with Exorial himself. |
[From: 'Materialien Zum O.T.O.']
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With the prospective publication of his short story collection "Exorial", Eugen Grosche expressed in 1951 his earnest hope of alleviating his acute financial hardship. In lengthy letters to Hermann Joseph Metzger in Switzerland, Grosche detailed his precarious situation: "Things are currently quite grim for us, no money for rent". He envisioned a print run of up to 70,000 copies. Another work, the novel "Das Dunkle Licht", likewise promised — at least in theory — to become a commercial success.
Metzger conducted a private reading of "Exorial" within his small circle. The response? "The mood was good, the interest [...] actually somewhat weak. It simply lacks the preparatory understanding." Despite ostensibly reaching out to several publishers in Switzerland and Vienna, Metzger was — unsurprisingly — unable to secure a willing editor. One suspects that his efforts may have been more symbolic than strenuous, as if the outcome had been tacitly predetermined from the outset. "What’s going on? Have you fallen seriously ill?" Grosche implored in a letter dated March 14, 1951 — addressed to Switzerland, the land of quiet hopes and quieter rejections. On May 22, June 18, and July 22 of the same year, he continued to lament the lack of response from Zurich, despite dispatching "many admonishing thought waves." Nearly a decade later, in March 1960, Grosche finally succeeded in publishing "Exorial" and affirmed that everything described in it had, in one form or another, actually happened. More about the book Exorial and Johannes Goeggelmann (Saturnius): Beispiel einer Skandalisierung. |
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