Word: reinharts
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Fans will still find enough vestiges of the former Reinhart: his sententious liberalism is undiminished; his antique Midwestern vocabulary ("hen fruit," "on the fritz") is intact; and if his optimism is a bit white at the temples, it still goads him on. But Reinhart ultimately comes to believe that life's meaning can be boiled down to the profound couplet: "Nothin' says lovin'/ Like something from the oven." The transformation has affected his creator as well. The tortuous and arcane language Berger displayed in Neighbors has been effectively streamlined. It now breaks for self-examination...
Never on the doorjamb, but sometimes in books. Like his running character, Berger has learned to cut down on adjectives and take it easy on the sauce. When Reinhart returns in his 70s, he may actually be underweight-in everything but entertainment value and insights. -By J.D. Reed...
...rented, white frame house in Sneden's Landing, N.Y., is the kind of place even Reinhart would admire. Amid the book-and sculpture-filled sunny rooms, Thomas Berger, 57, and his artist-wife of 30 years, Jeanne, browse through their sizable collection of cookbooks and photography volumes. The kitchen contains a batterie de cuisine that would flatter a cordon bleu chef. "I love to read about food and look at pictures of it," says the author. "I'm so into cooking we rarely go out to eat any more." It is an unsurprising revelation from a recluse...
Since Crazy in Berlin, critics and scholars have been trying to make Carlo Reinhart into Berger's alter ego. Retorts the author: "The only thing my character and I share is my Army serial number and a few facts of early life." Like Reinhart, Berger is Ohio-born, his German-French-Irish father was a business manager of the Cincinnati school system. The 105-lb. sophomore played 15 seconds of varsity football for Lockland High when "we were leading about 40-0." And like Reinhart, Berger served in the Army Medical Corps during the Berlin occupation. The aspiring novelist...
Through Berger's work, Reinhart has remained a constant: "He's my friend and he talks to me. When I'm writing him, I can't wait to get to the typewriter and find out what he's going to do. I'm a lot smarter than he is, but on the other hand, he's a lot better than I am." Berger tried to write the fourth book back in 1974 when Reinhart was living in New York, but he never came alive. "He wasn't ready. This time, he gets...