Emerge for breath
Emerge to take a breath (also published as Das Buried Life , original title: Coming Up for Air ) is a novel by George Orwell published in June 1939 .
In his novel, Orwell deals with the childhood of first-person narrator George “Fatty” Bowling, which was spent in a rural idyll, against the backdrop of the approaching war in Europe. This early novel already shows Orwell's deep pessimism about the development of the modern world.
action
When the representative of the "Flying Salamander" insurance George Bowling unexpectedly wins 17 pounds at a horse race, he decides to break out of his dreary everyday life, which consists of two children and Mrs. Hilda, who is always worried about money, at least for a short time. He first considers whether he should go to a prostitute for the money, but then spontaneously and secretly decides to take a short excursion into the world of his youth before the First World War , the village of Lower Binfield.
When he arrives in Lower Binfield, however, he realizes that this world no longer exists. Formerly idyllic Lower Binfield, at least in Bowling's memory, has become a soulless industrial town in which he hardly recognizes the places and shops of the past. Nobody in town knows him either, and apart from the pastor and a childhood sweetheart, he doesn't meet anyone he still knows. Resigned, he returns home to "Buried Life", where his wife accuses him of having an affair because he has not been away (and an alibi has broken).
Although Georg Bowling spends most of his days in Lower Binfield drinking and wandering around, he still manages to draw strength from memories of what was perceived to be a better past. As the title Coming up for Air expresses, it is a matter of taking a breath of history before entering an inhumane future.
expenditure
- Coming up for Air . London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1939.
- Emerge for breath . Novel. From the English by Helmut M. Braem . Zurich: Diogenes Verlag 1999. ISBN 3-25720804-9
- The buried life . Novel. From the English by Helmut M. Braem . Zurich: Neue Diana Press 1973. ISBN 3-87158265-4
literature
- Dominic Cavendish: Coming up for Air Revisited: Orwell, England and The Idea of Escaping. Extract from a lecture given at the International Conference hosted at Lille University - “George Orwell, une conscience politique du XXe siècle” March 19-20, 2010. Full text
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans-Christoph Schröder In: The Aqueduct 1763-1988. An almanac from the CH Beck publishing house in the 225th year of its existence. P. 485.