Fred Wagner, who longs to be a best-selling novelist, meanwhile earns his livelihood writing mail-order catalogue copy that hawks obscene beer mugs, ballpoint pens that double as flashlights, and calendars that not only identify National Scalp Care Week but also feature a special inspirational message for each day of the year. His beloved wife has just left him to pursue her own career as art-gallery owner and to traffic with an obnoxious sculptor named Siv Zirko, and his peevish sister is a constant correspondent, writing regularly to remind him of any failures he might have forgotten.
Alone in his apartment, standing naked before a full—length mirror, Fred observes that he is simultaneously losing weight and developing a paunch, and he just wishes... And as he wishes, starting with the feet and gradually working upwards, Fred becomes invisible.
Once he overcomes his amazement, he begins to practice, and with practice comes perfection. Soon he and whatever he touches — his own clothes or someone else’s money — can be made to disappear and reappear at will, and though it is not without a host of new challenges, two of whom are feminine and have plans for him, his life acquires a miraculous character and is perhaps even on its way to being legendary.
Being Invisible, a blending of Berger’s extraordinary psychological insights and mastery of the English language, is a tour de force. It might even be his response to Sartre’s Being and Nothingness.
