2666

Part 5 of 2666 tells the story of Benno von Archimboldi, the writer sought by the critics in Part 1. Benno von Archimboldi is the pseudonym of Hans Reiter, born in Prussia (modern day Germany) in 1920. Hans’s mother is blind in one eye, and his father has one leg. He is a naturally tall boy, much taller than other children his age. As a young boy, Hans is obsessed with water. He fantasizes about seaweed and diving. On two occasions, he nearly drowns. On the first occasion, a tourist named Vogel saves him from the water. On the second occasion, he is rescued by a group of fishermen. When Hans is 10, his parents have a second child. Hans’s sister is named Lotte. Hans considers Lotte to be “the best thing that [has] ever happened to him” (648). In 1933, as the Nazis take power in Germany, Hans leaves school. He tries to join a trade, but he is not very good at holding onto a job. Eventually, he becomes the servant to a young man named Hugo Halder. Hugo stays often in the large castle near Hans’s parents’ house; Hans’s mother often works in the castle and takes Lotte along with her.