Gottfried Benn's Gehirne (Brains) is a series of connected stories that follow a surgeon named Rönne. He works in a hospital morgue and an asylum, surrounded by death and mental illness. The plot is less about big events and more about watching Rönne's mind slowly come undone. He performs autopsies, he observes patients, and with every body he opens, the line between the physical brain he holds and his own consciousness starts to blur. The world of solid objects and clear meanings begins to dissolve for him. He feels disconnected from everything, even his own past and identity.

The Story

The narrative drifts through Rönne's experiences. In one story, he's dissecting a corpse, fascinated by the brain's structures. In another, he's trying to connect with a woman but can only see the biological processes beneath her skin. He travels, but new places feel just as hollow. The 'story' is really the progression of his inner collapse. He doesn't go mad in a dramatic way; instead, he becomes a calm observer of his own disintegration, treating his psyche like another specimen to be examined.

Why You Should Read It

This book hit me in a strange way. It's not a comfortable read, but it's incredibly powerful. Benn, who was a doctor himself, writes with a chilling, clinical precision about existential dread. When Rönne looks at a person and sees only 'glands secreting' and 'nerves firing,' it makes you question the very foundation of emotion and self. This was written after World War I, and you can feel the shock and disillusionment of that era bleeding through. It's about the crisis that happens when science strips away all mystery and leaves you staring into a void. The prose is dense and poetic, sometimes feeling like a fever dream, which perfectly matches Rönne's state of mind.

Final Verdict

This is a book for readers who aren't afraid of something challenging and dark. Perfect for anyone interested in early modernist literature, the birth of existential thought, or medical history. If you've ever read Kafka and felt that eerie sense of alienation, Benn operates in a similar territory, but with a scalpel in hand. Don't pick this up for a relaxing bedtime story. Pick it up when you're ready to stare, alongside Rönne, into the unsettling depths of what it might mean to be a thinking collection of flesh and bone.