Alice by Judith Hermann
26 Mar 2012 21 Comments
in germany, shadow IFFP 2012 Tags: 2012, german lit, prize winners, short stories, TRANSLATIONS
Alice by Judith Hermann
German fiction (short stories)
Translator – Margot Bettauer Dembo
Judith Hermann is from Berlin ,she grew up there studied German and philosophy ,work at German newspaper as an intern after that .The got a grant from the Berlin Academy of art to live in Alfred Doblin house ,she then published her first collection summer-house ,this Alice is her third collection and is darker than her earlier works .Judith Hermann is part of the new wave of female german writer like Julie Zeh AND Jenny Erpenbeck .Alice made the longlist for the independent foreign fiction prize and is from the new press The Clerkenwell Press first collection which is an imprint of Profile books .
So what is Alice about well it is a collection of five short stories ,rather like the collections from Kauzo Ishiguro and Cees Nooteboom in the last couple of years these are theme stories but also all contain the same person Alice ,the theme is death so maybe it is a composite novel of interlinking stories ,but these two recent short story collections sprung to my mind straight after reading the book .We see how Alice is effected by these deaths and the deaths are of people she is connected with the first few are friends ,some she really isn’t that close to then by the fourth story Malte her gay uncle and lastly her own husband and how she deals after he suddenly died .I must admit I wasn’t overly bowled over by this collection ,I found the first there stories very similar in tone Alice was there some one died ,the writing is beautiful but I felt the first three stories were very similar in tone and feel also other than place Alice as the heroine ,friend and a little bit about her as a person ,as the first three men die ,Misha is dying zweribruken with his wife and children Alice is there to help ,then a couple she vaguely knows in Italy invite her to stay and lastly a friend in berlin as he knows his death is impeding planning out what happens during and after his death she visits him and his wife .
The last time she visited richard and Margaret she’d brought peonies at this same stand ,having first thought about it for a long time .Seven peonies please ,and don’t add anything ,an uneven number a superstition ,five were to few and she didn’t have enough money for nine .
Details is something Hermann does well like this thought on buying flowers .
I just wasn’t very inspired by this collection ,I m not sure if that is at moment or it’ll be one of those books that six months down the line I ll go yes I get it totally and what Judith Hermann was trying to do . As an insight into death and coping with it’S aftermath it is well written the way every one copes those stages of grief as something I ve dealt with via work for over twenty years I struggled to connect with Hermann’s vision and using Alice as the motif through the stories thou we do see her interact with the dying , bereaved and her own grief ,she never leaped of the pages as a character for me to connect with .I felt she was just there to drive the stories not be built on as a character in herself I know it is come in short stories for us to know little of the character other tha the situation we meet them in ,I just felt Alice’s character maybe need some more filling out .I must admit Dembo has done a wonderful job in translation as Hermann’s writing is beautiful in parts she has a real eye for details that was enough to keep me going to the end ,in parts remind me a little in the skeleton prose of Carver and Cheever .Those thin slices they brought to life so well ,in this case it is death we’re dealing with but unlike carver and Cheever Hermann just hasn’t hooked this reader yet .I will try her other books at some point .Oh I must admit this is strange my first slightly negative review but that is beauty of reading a longlist like the Independent foreign fiction prize you get to try books you may not normally try out books out of your comfort zone and this book fell into both these categorises
Have you read this book ?
Next World Novella by Matthias Politycki
11 Mar 2012 19 Comments
in germany, shadow IFFP 2012 Tags: 2011, german lit, TRANSLATIONS
Next world novella by Matthias Politycki
German fiction
Translator – Anthea Bell
Matthias Politycki is one of the most succesful German writers of recent years having published twenty novels and some poetry collections .Shocking this is his first book in English !!.born in Karlsruhe he has won numerous awards ,recently on board ship as a writer in residence on a cruise ship .he is also a huge real ale fan .
Now I quickly tweet with Matthias last year when the book came out I then read the book,but got stuck on reviewing it always intending to get round to it but some how it fell from my review pile ,then when the IFFP longlist was announce I remembered I need to review it .Well my main problem first time round was how to describe the book but like every good book coming back and glancing through it months later you go oh yes and oh that .So what is next world novella about it is a story of a couple on is alive the other has just died although you could say in hind sight she maybe died before that .the couple Hinrich schepp a sinologist ,now we discover he recently had an eye operation and as his sight improved his eyes reopened on the world .Doro his wife another academic working on manuscripts .She is the one that has died and now we Hinrich who has found her looking through this manuscript .
Schepp almost reached towards the manuscript to put it some where dry then only to embrace Doro ,warm her perhaps put her to bed .
this manuscript will change his life .
Well as he reads he sees something different the notes his wife had been writing in the margins form another story that as it unfolds he sees it is his story ,his wife knew what he was up too (don’t they always my Amanda knows me better than me ) .This shocks him there in later middle life .He had an affair with a younger women a waitress in a bar he went to after his eye operation .This man like Hinrich has had bright hopes but hasn’t seen them through and it turns out the Doro an equally talent women gave up her chances academic stardom to be with Hinrich .
As you see this is a book where the point of view shifts what was real at the time wasn’t what is thought hidden wasn’t and Hinrch had missed it all but I must admit as a man we do sometimes miss simple things(although I ve never had an affair I tend to miss things I done that upset Amanda don’t we all ?) .I think that is why I struggled to review this first off although Hinrich life isn’t like mine at all I can see faults he has and faults .I maybe found that hard to deal with first off sign of a good book .This book also has a number of motifs a painting of a lake and the after life as Doro was obsessed with the afterlife when she was alive maybe she is living it via Hinrich reading .I was also reminded of the film Last year in Marianbad a bit that film is about a man who thinks he met a women the summer before but the women says she hasn’t that is a bit like the fact that Hinrich saw his life one way but in Doro’s eyes it was different This book would make A great book for a male book group and might I say as I know Matthias like his ale this would be on to discuss and have a drink other at the same time .I’m pleased this of all the year of man Peirene press books made the longlist of IFFP .A very gentle translation of a book that is subtle and clever by the wonderful Anthea Bell .
Have you read this book ?
The wall jumper by Peter Schneider
12 Nov 2011 4 Comments
in GERMAN LIT MONTH, germany Tags: 2011, german lit, TRANSLATIONS
The wall jumper by Peter Schneider
Translator – Leigh Harfey
German Fiction
Peter Schneider is a German writer in the sixties he was very active on the German student movement ,he has written numerous novel ,short stories and film scripts ,he currently teaches at Georgetown in the USA .This book was originally published in the early Eighties and is about the Berlin wall we are introduced to an array of characters that have jump the Berlin wall and survived from east to west ,one such character is Robert an east Berliner who was attracted to the bright lights ,we meet him in a bar in Berlin and we find that he is finding it hard to adjust to his new life in the west .As he struggles he has descended into drink .Other stories are about people wanting to see western films .Lena an ex lover of the narrator of this book whose whole family are still stuck in the east side of germany .There is a lot of sorrow at times in these tales of the grass not being greener on the other side of the fence .
In conversations with Robert ,it has become clearer what I’m looking for :the story of a man who lose himself and starts turning into a nobody .By a chain of circumstances still unknown to me ,he become a boundary walker between the two german states .
the narrator weighing up Robert .
When I saw this on the library shelf I was quite looking forward to it as one of my favourite films is der himmel über berlin (wings of desire )which is set just before the Berlin wall fell and the wall is a large character in that film ,and it is in this book but some how I found Schneider writing very dry almost Journalistic in a way .The description of the people the narrator talks to all feel like the could have been drawn from the newspapers of the time ,you never get further than the story of how they got there and how they are coping ,we also get a lot of factual info that slow the narrative at a point .I m not saying I didn’t enjoy the book I did I just think if I d read it twenty years ago just as the wall was there or just after it has fallen I d called it the best book I d ever read but time has passed and it is a good book on the time and the power the wall had on the city not just as a barrier but also as a symbol for the cold war .I m sure in another twenty years this will be a must read for the generations that can’t remember the wall .The book was translated by Leigh Harfey a reasonable translation you get no clue to if the book was a s dry in the original german but I think it may have been .
Have your read this book ?
The pigeon by Patrick Suskind
02 Nov 2011 18 Comments
in GERMAN LIT MONTH, germany Tags: 2011, german lit, TRANSLATIONS
The pigeon by Patrick Suskind
German fiction
translator – John E. Wood
Suskind is best known for his book Perfume and also the fact he doesn’t give any interview so very little is known about his life .This book is a very short fable like story of a man driven to the edge by a pigeon .er that sounds familiar a bit like the raven by Edgar Allen Poe yes this is sort of homage to that .
So we meet Jonathan Noel a french security guard this man likes order in his life in fact you could say he is a little to order and has borderline OCD .hiding himself from the world since his wife left him .So when one day a Pigeon decides to make his home in his apartment.
Now he saw the pigeon .It was sitting to his right a distance of about five feet ,at the very end of the hall crouched in one corner ,So light fell on the spot and Jonathan cast such a brief glance in that direction ,that he could not discern whether it was asleep or awake ,whether its eyes was open or closed .
Jonathan weighing up the pigeon .
I could imagine Jonathan being a reality tv star ,the man who hide for 30 years with a job that has minimal contact with people as that is what Jonathan thinks he wants little human contact and a small apartment in a large building where he can hide as he dash trying to be unseen for the communal bathroom .You feel Suskind is maybe using this as wider vision of modern man don’t we all live somewhat in bubbles these days ?This story has that strong German tradition of fables like Grimm the story can be read in many ways and although very short 77 pages in this edition from penguin with a largish font .is the pigeon a symbol of something Jonathan lost in his life and by trying to chase the pigeon he may find again ?The book owes much to the Poe poem for the inspiration of the bird to drive some one to the very edge and has what many would call a Kafkaesque edge to it in the fact that Jonathan is facing a unknown foe in the pigeon and also facing the world some what a new because of the pigeon .I liked perfume and was pleased this although different to perfume completely is still beautifully written tale .
Have you read this book ?
do you like fables ?
Nadirs by Herta muller
01 Nov 2011 17 Comments
in germany, Romania Tags: 2011, german lit, ROMANIA, TRANSLATIONS
Nadirs by Herta Muller
German Fiction
translator Sieglinde Lug
Nadirs published under the title Niederungen was her debut collection from the Nobel prize winning German writer ,it was published by University of Nebraska press and was the first to be translated into English .Like the other book Passport , I ve read by Herta Muller it is again set in the romania of her youth (she was born and grew up in Banat the german speaking area ).The book is formed of one long almost novella length story that of the title Nadirs and then 13 shorter stories som less than a page ,I will leave nadirs for you to read and mention a couple of the short piece .One I loved was Swabian Bath at just over a page long it descibes a family having the weekly bath in front of the fire .as we see the family one after another jump in the bath .
Grampa must be in the bathtub ,Gandma thinks .Grandma closes the bathroom door behind her. Grandpa drains the bathwaterfrom the bath the little gray rolls of mother, of father ,of grandma and of granpa swirl round the drain .
saturday night bathing from The swabian bath .
another really short one workday does what it says on the tin and that is describe a day bit by bit from waking in the morning getting there and then work day and journey home .I love the imagery in Mullers writing she uses unusal terms to describe things so we get things decribes as black toad like ,rotten pear like .I believe a lot of this is due to the style of german that Muller writes and speaks in, that due to being broken off from mainland germany since the second world war has retained a lot of the old high german style of speaking and writing .She also has a dream like feel to her stories as they walk that fineline between realism and magic realism very well .Now this said Nadirs isn’t the easiest read it has abuse alcoholism animals been mistreated all contained within the 118 pages .But that said you get a great insight into growing up and being part of minority in another country as the people in this book are .Muller was a real shock when she won the nobel relatively unkown outside germany ,but even in this her debut collection that is now nearly 25 years old you can see a writer that is destined for the greatness and accolades she got later in her writing life .I ve seen some people say the translation isn’t great but having read passport I think it is just Muller use of words that sometimes seem odd to us the english reader .
Source – library .
Have you read Muller ?
All the lights by Clemens Meyer
01 Sep 2011 12 Comments
in EUROPEAN FICTION, germany, TRANSLATIONS Tags: and other stories press, german lit, short stories, TRANSLATIONS
All the lights by Clemens Meyer
German fiction short stories
Translation by Katy Derbyshire
Clemens Meyer is the rising star of german literature ,he grew up in former east germany had a number of jobs such as fork lift driver ,construction whilst writing he has published three books in germany ,this is the first to be translated into english and the second book to be published by new Publisher and other stories it is out today 1 september .the book is translated by berlin based Katy Derbyshire .Rob of rob around books says he has a Aura around him as he saw him recently when he appeared at the Edinburgh book festival .
Well were to start with all the lights .First of it’s a collection of 15 short stories ,I was first told about it by Stuart Evers who wrote the forward at the Independent foreign fiction prize night .What the stories about well the stories on the whole are all set in the former east germany where Clemens grew up ,the characters in the stories are on the edge of life ,the underclass ,boxers and down and outs .AH now when I read this first off I was going to compare him to Raymond Carver and Charles Bukowski ,But to be honest that is lazy of me just to say oh here is a collection on european lowlife and of course the nearest comparison is the two best known American writers in that vogue ,but no there is a line in these stories too the turn of century works of Alfred Doblin ,Paul Leppin and so on where peole struggled as well like in a lot of these stories .The book isn’t tinge in what the Germans östalgie the former east germans that what to go back to the old east germany no its in the present as people struggling to cope with life in the new Germany where the state isn’t god like in the former east .I don’t like giving away many storylines in short story collections as it nice to find them as your read them so will mention my favourite in the collection which is of dogs and horse some of you may recognise it as it was in the guardian ,this is the story of Rolf and his dog Piet(named after Pete Sampras) ,one morning Piet develops a limp and goes to the vet he is a Doberman /rottweiler cross and has inherited the condition hip dysplasia and the operation to save Piet pain and a shorter life is a lot .This sends Rolf into the world of gambling to try to raise the required funds to help his beloved dog .As you can imagine this story really touched me as a dog owner I felt Rolf’s pain and he desire to help his dog at all costs as it is something I would do my self .
“Piet ” said Rolf ,what’s up with you ,boy you’re not old yet .Piet stood there in the middle of the pavement ,his back legs far apart ;he stood there as if straggling something ,looking at him with his dark eyes .He pulled on the leash but the dog didn’t move .He squatted down in front of him and stroked his head .”Whats up boy ,what’s the matter,shall we just have a bit of a rest ? You’ll be all right in a minute ,won’t you Piet ?”
Piet the dog isn’t himself ,a quote from “of dogs and horses “.
There is something about this collection that will stick with me a long time to come ,of dogs and horses in particular ,really touch me and I must admit it brought a tear to this readers eye which is something that rarely happens .Like with the other book out from and other stories ,they’ve found a unique voice the “tattoo man of german literature” as he is called in a welt article I read about him , Meyers is the voice of the east ,he is tackling the present as it is faced by a large number of the young former east German men as on the whole its a man’s world in these stories .I enjoy Katy Derbyshire translation she manage to keep the masculine nature of the stories intact The book was sent to me to review .
What is your favourite European short story writer ?
The Marquise of O – and other stories by Heinrich Von Kleist
14 Jun 2011 11 Comments
in germany Tags: classics, german lit, TRANSLATIONS
Source – library
Heinrich Von Kleist was probably the best known German writer of his time .Born in 1777 in Frankfurt ,he had little formal education ,joined the Prussian army in his teens ,he rose to rank of lieutenant ,left after seven years and went to study law at Vidrina university ,he was a leading light in the romantic movement he stared writing in his late twenties ,this collection gathers he most well-known short stories together and was published by Faber in 1960 .
Now there are 8 stories in this collection ,I m going to mention two of them that I like one that I felt showed that in two hundred years little has changed ,the other a short story that after recent news events seems apt .the first is the longest in the book Michael Kohlhaas is about the said Michael a man who was based on a real person ,that fell foul of the high-class and royalty of the day ,the story revolves around the michael horses and a fine he has to pay ,the story is he is stopped doesn’t have the right papers ,this leads to a petty official takeing horse as payment for this and using his other horse in the fields ,Michael feels mistreated so sets about some restitution for his loss this leads to a downward spiral leading Michael to more trouble and in the end ? ,well read it and find out !.Now Kafka is said to have loved this story and you can see why Michael is a prototype for Josef K or any of characters ,a man caught in the system ,but also a class struggle old boy afraid to lose face in the face of Michael’s complaints at his injustices .
Towards the middle of the sixteenth century ,there lived on the banks of the Havel a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas ,the son of a schoolmaster ,one of the most upright and at the same time one of the most terrible men of his day .until his thirtieth year this extraordinary man would have been thought the model of a good citizen .In a village that still bears his name
the opening of this story .
The second story I want to mention is The earthquake in Chile ,this short story follows the aftermath of the great earthquake in Santiago in 1647 ,Jerenimo a spanish man is about to hang himself in prison as it strikes he ends up fee from prison as the city is in ruins following the quake ,so he sets of to find his wife and son ,but with the feeling that his wife is lying dead ,but much to his relief they are alive and well ,meanwhile a rich man Don Fermando ,lose his with and his son is still young so he ask Josphe Jeronimo wife to join him and for them to help his son Juan ,this like Michael Kohlhaas leads to a series of unforseen events ,as the locals struggle to cope with the aftermath and look to the bible and this leads to people who are seen as sinners being sought out .
Jeronimo Rugera went rigid with terror and ,as if all his awareness of thing had been destroyed ,he clung to the very pillar on which he had meant to die ,to keep himself from falling .the ground swayed under his feet ,great cracks suddenly appeared in all the prison walls and the whole building leaned forward .
Jernimo finds life just as he wants death ,but is the a price ?
I really enjoyed these stories ,I was a bit worried with the age of the stories ,but had seen Von Kleist mentioned as an influence on a lot of German writers .I saw what Kafka took from him in Michael Kohlhaas this is so like Kafka’s work over a hundred years later .Also earthquake in chile reminded me of modern stories about the aftermaths of natural disasters and I felt how little had changed in a big earthquake is as bad now as it was then as Japan and New Zealand show in the last few months .The translation by Martin Greenberg still worked really well after nearly 50 years .I hope I inspire some more english readers to try him ,he shows you the background of modern German literature .
Have you read von Kleist ?
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin
30 Mar 2011 11 Comments
in germany Tags: classics, german lit
Source – Library
Translator – Eugene Jolas
Alfred Döblin is probably one germany’s greatest writers he was born in the in later 1880 he lived in berlin as a youth,studied as a doctor and served as a doctor during first world war ,he had an interest in psychology and philosophy and was very influenced by James Joyce ,this book was first he wrote after reading Joyce .
Berlin Alexanderplatz is set in the area of Berlin around Alexanderplatz ,which was a working class part of the town ,the main character is Franz Biberkopf a small time criminal who at the start of the book is released to the dark world he left to go to prison ,he deals with other criminals prostitutes .This isn’t the world of Isherwood’s Berlin no this a dark threatening world ,Franz is a man caught in the system but wanting to escape ,the book is full of the everyday life news ,posters from the street mentioned we discover his inner turmoil .the book is not in chronological order you dart but this isn’t as jarring as other books like this I ve read .Another criminal Reinhold an acquaintance of Franz but a much nastier and more criminal man altogether a bad influence on the naive Franz that leads to dark consequences .
Thus Franz Biberkopf ,the concrete-worker ,and later furniture-mover ,that rough ,uncouth man of repulsive aspect ,returned to berlin and to the street ,the man at whose head a pretty girl from a locksmiths family had thrown herself ,a girl whom he made into a whore ,and at last mortally injured in a scuffle .
the close of the first of nine books that make up Berlin Alexanderplatz
This book isn’t an easy read, but are modernist novels ever ? ,it made me think as I read Doblin does such a good job painting this dark seedy world .He worked in the streets he described after the first world war so I imagine Franz is a mix of people he saw or treated over that time he worked there ,this is a clever study of the human soul and what happens when it is drawn the wrong way ,on the surface Franz is a healthy man hard-working but Naive and easily lead and maybe without a true moral code .I was recommend this book by F C Delius the German writer when I ask him to recommend some German books he had enjoyed and had influenced him on twitter late last year .The book was translated by Eugene Jolas she was a friend of Joyce and translator.The book has been made into two films the second a 15 hour tv series by Rainer fassbinder in the 80′s considered his masterpiece ,I must watch this at some point .
Have you read this book ?
do you like modernist fiction ?
Billiards at half past nine by Heinrich Boll
18 Jan 2011 4 Comments
in books from, germany Tags: german lit, library, TRANSLATIONS
source 
- Library
Heinrich Boil was probably the best post war german writer ,he won the Nobel prize in 1972 .When I lived in germany in early nineties he was vert well known and on my return to the uk I read a couple of his books ,But late last year when I ordered from library found there wasn’t much in stock so choose this probably his best known book in germany .
Billiards at half nine is About a businessman Robert Fahmel in Koln he is architect ,his secretary tells us about him and his habits ,but we are also told about his families history back to the 19th century a rich history ,We learn that Robert was opposed to the Nazis during the war and also about a conflict the host of buffalos and host of the lambs this is to all do with the church but in a greater sense harks back to the war and the battle of Nazism and pacifism during the war ,we also visit the battle of Kiev during the war .
Robert was not yet two and Otto not yet born ; I was on leave and for a long while had clearly known what I had once vaguely sensed ;that irony was inadequate and always would be inadequate ,that it was inly narcotic for the privileged, and I ought to have done what Johanna did ; I ought to have spoken to the boy ,in my captains’ uniform ,but I merely listened to him as he went on reciting .
Robert father in a flashback in 1917 on return to home from fighting on-line in world war one .
I found this a tough little book to work through I felt as thou a secom=nd reading would help if I see a cheap copy I will pick it up it has a real depth and complex plot that has a lot of allusions to world war to but in some ways the struggle of religion in germany over history .Boll is a wonderful writer I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in german feelings post war its easy to see the main character as a Heinrich boll he lives in Koln like Boll and is a similar age to Boll .Boll fought in the Wehrmacht in the second world war ,in Russia so the battle of Kiev scenes I would feel are Boll’s own experiences .The copy I had from library was a Jupiter edition from 1973 and was translated by Patrick Bowles .
The weekend by Bernhard Schlink
22 Oct 2010 11 Comments
in germany, TRANSLATIONS
Bernhard Schlink is a German writer , professor of law and former Judge ,he writes both lit fiction and crime fiction ,he is best Known for the runaway sucess the reader ,like that book this one tackles a trouble time in Germanys history .
The Weekend is a meeting of freinds after nearly twenty years drawn together by the release of Jorg a terrorist and member of the red army Faction ,the terrorist organsation in germany that had marxist ideal and carried a number of attacks and killings during the seventies in what was called the german autumn .Jorg was one of these terrorist he was sent away for life for a terroist attack were people died ,but has cancer and was thus granted a presidental pardon to live his last days in freedom .The group draws to a rundown house in Brandburg .the former friends assemble ,now there a priest ,dentist and journalist they have left behind the past and got on with there lives and Jorg in some ways is like a faithful dog still faithful to his old master the RAF .as the weekend unfolds there are recrimnations about past acts ,what happen ,there is also a huge suprise along the way for Jorg as he enconters ….
AT first glance he was still a handsome man, tall , square face , bright green eyes , thick salt and pepper hair but his poor posture emphasized his little paunch ,which didn’t match his thin arms and legs ,his gait was slow ,his face gray ,and wrinkles that crisscrossed his forehead and were steep and long in his cheeks indicated not concentration so much as a vague sense of strain
Jorg as he appears on his release .
Tense is high in this book ,a sense of unease surrounds this group .Like many groups of friends over time views and postions have changed ,the group as a whole have gotten on with there life and Jorg appears some what alien at times to them ,like looking in a mirror of what night have been ,I for one was a little radical in my youth but with a small r .But in hindsight some of my ideas were overly idealistic ,and this is refelct in the group henner now a journalist ,writng everything that happens and has happened .Ilse a teacher ,andrew a lawyer and Ulrich a sucessful dentist with all the trapping that brings like a nice car etc .Then there is Jorg a man that has been in isolation for twenty years ,facing the new world of global commerce and increased consumerism .Schlink has hit the mark again and tackled a tough subject with a subtile and gentle hand ,not overly polticial but enough to make it seem realstic .
