The Corncrake Paradox

A few days before October 26, men clothed in green camouflage prepare Vienna's Heldenplatz [Heroes' Square] for the country's National Holiday, setting the stage for the parading of Austria's Armed Forces. Georg Oberlechner documents the event in four chapters headed by titles hearkening to military maneuvers. It all begins with "Approaching the Enemy" and the construction of what turns out to be a Potemkin-like village involving tents, motor vehicles and all kinds of military equipment. The nightly arrival of tanks traveling along Vienna's Ringstrasse Boulevard under police escort crystalizes into the climax of the chapter. On the day that...