The Tunnel (novel)

Kohler introduces the reader to his scholarly work on the Germans, and contemplates the implications of spending the majority of his working life in a chair. The chair he occupies in the novel belonged to his mentor, the German history professor and Nazi collaborator Magus Tabor. Gass uses quite a bit of typographical variety in this section (a window and a Star of David, both constructed out of text, are notable examples) and includes pictures, drawings and watermarks.

Section two begins with a compilation of excuses from Kohler's university students, then segues into a contemplation of the Muse. This leads Kohler to list his literary preferences, a litany that includes Proust, Mann, Lawrence and Rilke. These reflections trigger Kohler to recall a childhood walk to Market Street, which then leads him to an examination of the literary tastes of his youth. The section ends with a long introduction of Kohler's mentor, Magus "Mad Meg" Tabor, which alternates from the professor's lectures to the narrator's memories of the man.

Kohler reflects on his life, interspersing childhood memories with descriptions of his house. The character of Uncle Balt, a tall, sonorous farmer whose folksy pronouncements ("THEY'LL MAKE YOU INTO MAN JAM AND SERVE YOU ON TOAST") Kohler records and contemplates. This sections also contains a visit to Kohler's university office, and the first extended passage concerning the narrator's parents.

Kohler begins work on his tunnel, breaking through his basement's cement floor to a layer of cobbles. He describes his workspace, and meditates on his marriage, his book, and his colleagues, specifically Culp, an inveterate dirty limerick writer and the leader of Kohler's sons' boy scout troop. Gass includes many of Culp's limericks (he's trying to write a history of the world using the form) and also brings back a few of the typographical inventions (a page designed to look like a paper sack; business cards) that dominated the novel's earlier sections.

The section mainly concerns itself with Kohler's recollections of his history professor: his lectures, his conversational style, his illness and eventual demise. Gass inserts childhood memories of Sunday drives and family life, along with a brief memory of Kohler's military service. Gass also introduces the Party of Disappointed People, a fictional political party that Kohler invented (he claims Mad Meg is the spiritual founder). Kohler has created not just an entire ideology, but flags, logos and symbols. The PdP recurs as a motif throughout the book.

Kohler meditates on windows of various sorts throughout the book's sixth section. Kohler continues to reflect on his colleagues, his teacher Meg, his family life and his professional work on the Holocaust. A subsection, titled "Blackboard," contains Kohler's thoughts on classrooms, teaching, and students. Another subsection, "Kristallnacht" recalls Kohler's time in Germany as a student - he was present during the Kristallnacht, but his participation in the actual event is ambiguous.

Kohler chronicles scenes from his early married life with Martha. They live in university-provided apartments, and, because of the thinness of the complex's walls, are able to study the daily habits of a couple living next to them. Kohler looks through a family album, lingering on portraits of his mother and father. Gass records a harrowing scene from Kohler's early life as a father, who briefly throttles his young son when he fails to stop him from crying. The section ends with Kohler contemplating his penis, which he does often throughout the novel.

Kohler describes all of his colleagues in the department of history: the chair, Oscar Planmantee, who has a problem with one of Kohler's graduate students; Walter Hershel, an old fashioned and mild-mannered scholar; Tommasso Governali, a rising star who has an unruly and defiant teenage daughter; and Charles Culp, writer of obscene limericks. The Department of History is meeting to address a female student's complaints about Kohler's sexual advances.

Kohler goes through a lengthy morning ritual, meditating on a variety of subjects as he prepares to write. His thoughts drift to Adolf Hitler, a central figure in Kohler's scholarly work. The Vietnam War is briefly mentioned, which is one of the novel's few references to the time period in which the present action of the novel takes place.

Kohler invokes a youthful paramour, Susu, a gypsy lounge singer who committed atrocities against the Jews during World War II and was eventually executed by the Nazis. While digging his tunnel, Martha's cat surprises him, and Kohler instinctively strangles her. He buries the cat in one of Martha's wardrobes. Kohler recollects his father's attempts to teach him how to drive, as well as his bigoted reaction to foreigners (he dubs the head of the family "Mr. Toottoot") moving next door.

Kohler recalls an extended affair with Lou, a shopgirl and part-time student at his university. This section also contains a long, descriptive childhood recollection, focusing on a young Kohler's infatuation with candy, as well as a brief dalliance with gambling addiction.

The last section of the book primarily concerns itself with character sketches of Kohler's mother, father, and aunt. Kohler, at the young age of twelve, has to deal with his father's crippling arthritis, and his mother's dissolution from alcohol addiction. Kohler reveals his childhood disillusionment led him to reject poetry for the study of history.