The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman

There is comfort in the predictable. When picking a book to read, the title, the cover, the blurb, sometimes even the name of the author, send us signals of what to expect. Plots will often follow recognisable paths. Even good books, which do not fall prey to the use of clichés, will still contain recognisable tropes.

But very occasionally, one encounters a book which breaks all those unspoken rules. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman (2012, Sceptre) is such a book. It is difficult to describe the plot, probably because of how it breaks the rules. It all starts in Berlin in 1931, where we meet the main character, the neo-expressionist set-designer Egon Loeser. Loeser is passionate about the theatre, or at least his own little obscure corner of it, but neurotic about everything else (especially the lack of sex), and he is convinced that politics will never impact his life in any way. Saying that in Germany of the early 1930s is a strong case of foreboding. What one would expect to happen was that after the Machtergreifung, the character sees his mistake and tries to work against the Nazis, alternatively that he gets sucked into it himself and realises just in time the evil he is supporting.

But no. Loeser remains apolitical and insular. The point where he realises that something is happening if when the good drugs disappear from the parties, not the discrimination and the book-burnings. Even when the world is on the brink of war, Loeser is still happily unaware. The book, however, is not. The reader will recognise many references to contemporary events, something that adds a serious dimension to this absurdly funny novel. One is shocked at Loeser's ignorance of what is happening before his very eyes, but at the same time guiltily relieved, and possibly even jealous, because few people are simple enough to refuse to be concerned with the troubles of the world, which can weigh heavily on the shoulders of the powerless individual. Ultimately, one is happy not to be Loeser, whose ignorance isolates him from the rest of the world. But how often is the main character of a novel such a hopeless case, especially when their redemption is not the main plot?

The Teleportation Accident is difficult to place in a genre. It is historical fiction, as it is set between the 1930s and late 1940s in Germany, Paris and America. The seventeenth century is also constantly present, due to Loeser's obsession with an Italian set-designer, Adriano Lavicini, whose Teleportation Device, an advanced theatre set, lead to the first of many instances which the title may refer to. The events often feel absurdist, both in the telling and the plot-twists. Confidence men, quacks and failed authors abound, but the reader is often on their side. Through the eyes of Loeser and other characters, whose equally skewed point-of-view is sometimes adopted, the odd schemes and the right-down frauds seem just as real and ordinary as society at large, which is going increasingly mad as the second world war approaches. Throughout the novel, there are hints of science fiction, but it would be simplistic to say that this is a sci-fi novel. In fact, it is not quite clear which events are real and which are made up within the narrative. The Teleportation Accident twists out of the grip of assumption, and manages to be funny, entertaining, disturbing and comforting all at the same time. Most of all, it is a very refreshing read.