A Covid-affected reading month meant I only finished seven books, and particularly disrupted my Black History Month plan (to be continued next month). I still finished four in German, one (1) in Portuguese, and five by women/POC.
- Schwarzes Herz — Jasmina Kuhnke
- A Bicicleta Que Tinha Bigodes — Ondjaki
- Schwarzenberg — Stefan Heym
- Zwei Schüsse und ein Lachen — Abdulai Sila tr. Renate Heß
- Die Geschwister — Brigitte Reimann
- Closure: Contemporary Black British Short Stories — Jacob Ross (ed.)
- The Prisoner and The Fugitive — Marcel Proust, tr. Carol Clark and Peter Collier
Starting with what I did manage for BHM, Schwarzes Herz was a very powerful account of a character’s experiences with the twin issues of racism and domestic violence. The passages concerning the narrator’s childhood were particularly effective, as where she feels threatened on first meeting other Black people. Only in the latter stages of the story did the book seem over-dominated by the issues rather than the characters; on the whole this was a very impressive first novel.
A Bicicleta Que Tinha Bigodes is a young adult novel set in the Luanda of the author’s childhood, transformed into an enchanting semi-mythical environment. The first part focuses on the narrator’s friend and her close relationship with the animals in her yard, while the main, latter section contains the story of the dreamed-of bicycle. There is a meaningful ending, as to be expected from the genre, but the real pleasure is the journey. (I’ve classed this as part of my BHM reading because the author is mixed-race, though he doesn’t consider himself Black.)
Zwei Schüsse und ein Lachen is the second book I’ve read by Abdulai Sila (from Guinea-Bissau), and the first play. Again semi-mythical, it tells the story of a conflict between a group of people working to save a country very like Guinea-Bissau, under the guidance of a spiritual leader, and the efforts of some to stop them. I found it rather wordy (there’s a lot of the characters telling each other to get to the point, which I could empathise with), and the translator has an irritating habit of retaining Guinean words and phrases, but then immediately translating them.
Finally for BHM, Closure is an interesting and varied collection by Black and Asian British writers. Quite a few of the pieces were engaging, but read like novel extracts rather than fully-satisfying stories. The big names (Monica Ali and Bernardine Evaristo) finish off the book and produced probably the best stories, so it at least ended with a bang.
Then two East German novels, both grappling remarkably honestly with the tension between idealism and realpolitik. Schwarzenberg is the somewhat fact-based story of a mini-state which arises in the Erzgebirge between the American- and Russian-occupied zones of Germany. The inevitable happens, but before that Heym allows us some hope for human nature.
Die Geschwister is set after the establishment of the two German states, but at a time when crossing the border was still relatively straightforward. The protagonist is a Reimannesque young artist who struggles with seeing each of her brothers in turn decide on Republikflucht, and with her own position in the increasingly ossified East German society. There’s no happy ending, but the ambiguity it leaves the reader with is thought-provoking.
Finally, two books in one: The Prisoner and The Fugitive. Almost at the end of the Proustathon. Highlights are on my Mastodon threads: https://mastodon.green/@slnieckar/111318917572327073 and https://mastodon.green/@slnieckar/111330181555488406.
November is German Month: https://lizzysiddal2.wordpress.com/2023/09/22/announcing-german-literature-month-xiii/ . I realised rather late, but I do have plans….