Novel: Knut Hamsun – Hunger
A young man wanders through a city without a goal or a purpose in life, physically emaciated, but “seized by the happy madness of hunger”. That’s what keeps him going: a wandering spirit, a seismographic sensitivity, a fantastic inventive and imaginative power. In his classic, published in 1890, Hamsun found a style of language for the desolate condition of the first-person narrator that not only asserts shame and megalomania, despair and extravagance, but also allows them to be experienced in a radical narrative style. Kept in inner monologue for long stretches, he developed stylistic devices that Marcel Proust, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf would take up decades later. Retranslated by Ulrich Sonnenberg.
Roman
Sofi Oksanen – Baby Jane
When the first-person narrator meets the charismatic and attractive Piki, she falls head over heels in love. But it is only following some time that she realizes that Piki has secrets from her: Due to an anxiety disorder, she is severely restricted in everyday life and unable to carry out the simplest activities. So she depends on her ex-girlfriend Bossa to do things like grocery shopping and laundry for her. But the narrator does not want to accept these intimacies. Jealousy and distrust are compounded by their own psychological and financial struggles – and it doesn’t take long for the simmering conflict between them to erupt violently.
Essay
Eva Demski – My anarchist album
Eva Demski has traversed the fascinating history of anarchism and collected the countless manifestations in which she encountered it. It is reminiscent of Bakunin, Mühsam and Emma Goldman, tells of anarchist watchmakers of the 19th century, of progressive princes and discoverers like Isabelle Eberhardt; she opens up almost forgotten poets and tries to understand Sisi’s murderer Lucheni. Portraits, site visits, everyday observations, pamphlets and declarations of love have resulted in a colorful album with snapshots from many eras – and you’re amazed at what you can do with the letter A.
thriller
Cherie Jones – How the one-armed sister sweeps the house
Baxter’s Beach, Barbados: a perfect paradise, as long as nobody scratches the surface. Adan is a charismatic but unscrupulous petty criminal whose break-in into one of the beachfront mansions sets off a chain of horrific events: A shot no one should hear. A murder that changes everything and also leads young Lala to a turning point. In haunting, lyrical language, Cherie Jones tells the story of how love and crime dramatically transform the lives of her characters across all class barriers and races. “How the one-armed sister sweeps the house” was on the best crime list for three months.
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Source of text/image:
bookstore blue flower
Richard-Wagner-Str. 46
67655 Kaiserslautern
www.buchhandlung-blaue-blume.de
Kaiserslautern, January 12, 2023
