Brothers (2019)

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Brothers is the second novel by the German writer Jackie Thomae . In 2019, the year of publication, it was on the shortlist of the German Book Prize . Told from multiple perspectives, it explores the question of “how we become the people we are in the middle of our life” and is about two Afro - German half-brothers who, despite similar starting conditions, walk completely different paths in life - one as a party-goer in the “wild” “First decade of the reunified Berlin , the other as a star architect and conservative family man who lived in multicultural London after the turn of the millennium .

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Michael and Gabriel, both born in 1970, born in East Berlin and Leipzig , have the same, unknown father, the Senegalese Idris Cissé, who returned to his homeland after successfully completing his medical studies - started in the GDR and completed in West Berlin . Without knowing each other, the Afro - German half-brothers grow up as the only children of single mothers. Their vitae, which extend up to “mid-life”, run almost in opposite directions and are therefore also told separately.

Michael ("Mick") Engelmann is 15 when his mother, after having granted an exit application , moves with him to the western part of Berlin and marries a wealthy real estate agent. The fast food , completely unknown to him , has turned Mick into a chubby teenager; living in his stepfather's comfort zone corrupts him more lastingly. This can be seen when his emancipated mother got divorced after a few years. Mick - meanwhile in his early 20s, almost two meters tall, slim and athletic through training and discipline, handsome and charming by nature - broke off his apprenticeship as a carpenter and has arrived in Berlin's party scene. You can usually see him with Desmond, a gay African American who is almost ten years his senior and a fashion photographer with artistic ambitions. Mick wants to live on as big a footing as he does and offers himself to him as an assistant, but Desmond refuses. Instead, he involved him in a drug smuggling operation . Of course, this is just as getting out of hand, as is the business, in which for Mick work and pleasure seem to coincide perfectly: a club that he founded with two other friends in 1995 and runs for four years, unannounced - so that the tax office of them retrospectively Calls for 500,000 D-Mark taxes. Mick spends the millennium at Charité ; an accident while testing a gigantic sound box permanently damaged his hearing. His long-term relationship is also falling apart. Delia, daughter from a bourgeois-liberal family, loves the lovable thing about Mick and comes to terms with his weaknesses, especially his notorious infidelities, mostly one-night stands . She only gets upset when she learns - not even from himself - that he has had a vasectomy years ago . Mick, for his part, goes to Thailand , falls out there with a friend, helps build a pavilion and begins to meditate .

Gabriel Loth was seven years old when his mother had a fatal accident. From then on he grew up in the care of her parents; his grandfather remained a formative authority for him throughout his life. Like his mother, Gabriel wants to become an architect; He is completing his master’s degree in London and has chosen the British metropolis as his adopted home. Convinced that this is where he succeeds best in becoming what he makes of himself, he throws himself into his work and is indeed successful. He started his own business with his friend Mark and was awarded the contract for a number of large international building projects, mainly in China and the ex- Soviet Union , not least because of his “idea of ​​cheap, dignified living” . Gabriel also approaches starting a family systematically. When he thinks he has found the right person in the translator Fleur, he steers straight into the port of marriage. That makes him blind to her double game (she loves someone else), but in the end his persistent, honest advertising works out in his favor - and the fact that Fleur becomes pregnant. The desired child Albert becomes a problematic teenager; instead of promoting his musical talents wholeheartedly, Gabriel tries to model him too in his own image. In his mid-40s, the star architect, fixated on a perfect life, burned out ; against Fleur's advice, he even incurs a university lectureship . Medicines are ineffective, breaks are too short. In a moment when he still believes that he has everything under control again, “what he had built up and trained for decades” fails completely: His maddened freak hits one of his black students of all people and makes him the target of a veritable shit storm . On Mark's advice, he takes a break in a Brazilian chalet that he designed himself years ago.

In 2017 the life paths of the half-brothers converge. Her father Idris found them both online and invited them to Paris , where his older daughter and best friend live. Mick, meanwhile trained and working as a yoga teacher and life coach, travels with Delias, who has become the most important woman in his life since she was "only" his girlfriend. Gabriel, who is only at the beginning of his self-discovery, remains in Brazil, but has forwarded Idris' invitation to his son. Albert sympathizes with Mick and encourages him to send a long verbal message to Gabriel “among brothers”.

main characters

The concept of the novel - to face two almost contradicting characters - is obvious. The fact that both are given very similar start-up capital - genetically (the same father) and sociologically (as the only children of single mothers in the GDR ) - makes their diversity all the more interesting. Mick's life story bears the title The Fellow Traveler , Gabriel's The Stranger . The blurb speaks of the " hedonist " on the one hand and the "overperformer" on the other; The reviewers make similar statements. Gabriel is regarded as industrious, punctual, conscientious and hyper checked as workaholic and "German Engineering" which - "almost soziophob " and "absolute Smalltalk - dyslexic " - match only targeted calls and not just "überperformt" but "about well compensated " by modeling himself and his life according to an image that wants to avoid the stereotypes that are (supposedly) ascribed to him as “ black ”. Mick, on the other hand , fully complies with these clichés , be they justified or not. He is sporty, musical, carefree and thoughtless, a hallodri , brother Leichtfuß, life artist and woman type, an "eternal child" and "nineties good-for-nothing ", as selfish as generous and social.

"I believe in my work and the results it deserves," says Gabriel of himself. His wife Fleur, on other occasions his harshest critic, adds: "When he talked about architecture, he exuded a magic that only people who do something they really love can do." In contrast, Mick's path to a working life is everything other than determined. After the apprenticeship was broken off and the stepfather's donations ceased to exist in a persistent “lack of money”, “he saw a career of lateral entry, only the industry was still missing.” In his mid-twenties, he believed he had found it in gastronomy, but it allowed him to combine the useful with the pleasant: Half of the week, from Thursday to Monday, he dives into the nightly party life. In the remaining time he devotes himself - in addition to rest, fitness training and personal hygiene - to two activities for which he has some talent, but which do not generate enough money: he buys and resells private record collections, and he writes music reviews. Significantly, he gets into a mess here too by plagiarizing the reviews of a chance acquaintance in London . When one day he receives a letter from her, he is in trouble and puts it aside, unopened. “Not opening a letter for ten years, that's Mick, summarized in a nutshell,” comments his partner Delia - it contained the message that Mick had become a father.

Literary cross-references in the reviews of brothers further sharpen the character image of the protagonists . Zadie Smith is one of these leading figures; like her, Thomae could also write “convincingly about half-strength brats who will soon get into trouble”, and all without “ governess-like index finger”, rather with “quiet amusement” that infects the reader. For Gabriel, on the other hand, the German crocodile of Ijoma Mangold, who is a friend of Thomae , may have been the godfather, in which the author tells how he worked all his life to "overwrite his phenotype through education and habit ". Both half-brothers are also prototypes for a certain period of time, or the lifestyle that characterizes them. Mick stands for the era of the “big, egalitarian party [s]” in “cheap Berlin ” of the 1990s, including its ironic tone. Gabriel, on the other hand, is "as an ambitious, internationally successful person, more of a figure of the last two decades". The fact that, despite all the contradictions, it also unites many things is also not unmentioned. Both have a " nerdy focus" in common; both have learned building trades and practice them, however sporadically (Mick); both are often on the move (Mick often follows his spontaneous escape impulse, Gabriel always systematically); one remains nomad (transforming flight into flow ), the other a monad .

“I really wanted to have men”, Thomae comments on her choice of protagonists. Describing male characters had already given her moments of clarity , pleasure in her debut novel, and the feedback from male readers in particular showed her that she had succeeded. However, literary criticism also finds the main female characters in brothers to be successful , from whose point of view a considerable part of the plot is told - be it Delia, Fleur or Monika (Mick's mother), all of them "stubborn, clever women". It is precisely these qualities that Gabriel and Fleur's son Albert retains through all of his metamorphoses , which make him a “master of mimicry and juggler of diversity”; He, the sole representative of the children's generation of the protagonists, an only child like his father and his uncle, does not belong to the final chapter of the novel by chance, as he seems predestined to mediate the unfinished brotherhood between the two.

Fictionality

“ Brothers [is] a fictional story”, Thomae clarifies, “whose protagonists could be my brothers.” That aims at the autobiographical core of her novel. Thomae is also an Afro-German who grew up as the only child of a single mother in the GDR , in the absence of her father from Guinea , who came back to her life in 2014 "completely surprising". She briefly considered leaning her novel on his life, but rejected it - for the sake of "fictional freedom". The fact that she has made use of it at a profit is confirmed by the literary criticism in unison: “diverse episodes” that demonstrate “the highest level of narrative competence”; "A story of such a breadth that there is not the slightest question mark behind the [...] generic term novel"; "Both [Zadie] Smith and Thomae have chosen the principle of storytelling and fill their books with exuberant, fictional biographies." - "Anyone who really wants to tell stories," says Thomae self-confidently, "doesn't need his biography for that."

structure

The novel is clearly structured. The first half belongs to Mick and the 15 years up to the turn of the millennium , the second to Gabriel and the 15 years after that. Two much shorter, supplementary parts are clearly subordinate: an intermezzo in which her father Idris speaks on the occasion of a trip to Germany in 2000, and the final epilogue , which refers to Idris' attempt to find the "family" in 2017 Bringing Paris together. When comparing the two fictional biographies , three formal differences stand out. Mick's life story is told authorially , the other alternately from the first-person perspective of Gabriel and Fleur; Mick's history moves towards catastrophe , whereas Gabriel's begins with it; consequently the first biography (as well as the four parts as a whole) is essentially told chronologically , while the second contains numerous flashbacks .

Narrative

Almost every reviewer praises the lightness of the style, the art of “casual” storytelling, paired with irony and a “humor that never turns cynical ”. In addition, an extraordinary attribute emerges when it is said - apparently with reference to the first part - that Thomae's technique consists of a “gentle” omniscience carried by empathy . Opinions differ somewhat about the changed narrative tone in the second part, due to the change to the first-person perspective. One review says that it works “more directly”, which a second justifies with the fact that the first-person narrators “position themselves powerfully”; a third praises that he is “growing up” here and is still “no less entertaining”, while a fourth comments subtly critically that he appears “unprocessed” and “less pliable”. With intertextual references Thomae it in an economical; they come from both popular and high culture , and from the visual and performing arts rather than literature.

  • “You look like a Benetton poster,” says the three club owners Mick, Fabian and Chris (i.e. an Afro-German , a Vietnamese and an Irishman ).

  • " Oreo " (a black biscuit with a white filling) is mockingly called Gabriel von Sybil.

  • Jan van Eyck , The Arnolfini Wedding (1434): When looking at her own wedding picture, Fleur remembers this painting, which has fascinated her since childhood.

  • William Hoare, Portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (1733): Fleur is strongly drawn to the painting, possibly also to the story of the sitter.

subjects

In the case of a novel whose protagonists are two Afro-Germans , it is reasonable to assume that the main topic is skin color , racism and discrimination . Thomae expected these expectations. However, she regrets when discussions about her book and interviews with her are fixated on this point (not excluding the interview in which she expresses her regret). Does that do justice to your novel?

The fact is that both fictional biographies differ in this aspect as well. When reading the first, it is easy to forget for a long time that there could be such a thing as a "skin color problem" for Mick; with the second, however, it's literally there from the first sentence (“And suddenly I was white”) and keeps catching up with Gabriel. This is primarily due to their fundamentally different temperaments : those who absolutely want to break free of it (Gabriel) are constantly confronted with it, while those who do not care about it remain largely unaffected by it. But the historical context also plays a role. This is particularly clear to Mick. He is a “child” of the art and party scene in (West) Berlin in which Thomae himself, of about the same age, moved in the 1990s and in which skin color played no role. Her entire circle of friends at that time consisted of “lovable characters” - people who, like her, came from the “ provinces ” and who were referred to as “ black sheep ” or saw themselves that way (their dedication applies to them ), and who in ( West) Berlin could be "in peace", "who they wanted to be". So it stands to reason that Thomae made a conscious decision to “show a racism that is subtle , that often appears more as an issue in their lives, not as a direct attack”. The reviews dealing with this aspect confirm that she succeeded convincingly.

The only racially motivated "direct attack" that happens to the two half-brothers is Mick of all people - realistically in East Berlin , when, due to Delia's house purchase, he resides there again after the fall of the Wall . The media attack that followed Gabriel's “freaking out” shows that “subtle” racism is often even more difficult to counter . One of the perfidious methods that are brought up here is that of calculated concealment: By not mentioning that Gabriel, like his “victim”, is “ black ”, he is made “ white ” because that burdens him even more . Gabriel is smart enough to anticipate backlash and refrains from any correction or justification. He also considers the patronizing attitude of admitting blacks that they are “really good at music” to be “subtle”, calls them “feel good racism” and therefore prefers classical music . It has "become more complicated for everyone," admits Thomae, who admits that for a long time she had the feeling that "the world was becoming more open". It is all the more important to differentiate nonetheless. Not every dismissive reaction is racism, some “just” antipathy or bad mood.

Compared to her debut novel Moments of Clarity , a “dance of separation” with sensitive psychograms , the gain in Brüder is above all that it contains “more world”. This goes hand in hand with a greater variety of topics. This includes identity and gender ; Egalitäts - utopia and losses; Parenting, parenting and adoption ; the GDR and post-reunification Germany. "I wanted to bring a lot more topics into this book," says Thomae, "skin color is just one of them."

Motifs

The title of the novel is also its main motif . First of all, it is noticeable that all three male main characters - Mick, Gabriel, Albert - grow up as only children. Do they miss siblings, especially a brother? Mick apparently yes. Several times he forges close ties with men who also seem stronger than him. He calls Desmond, his party-goer friend, his "brother-to-be", and when he is in London and Chris, his business partner, takes his place, Mick considers himself a "brother type". His need for male friendships, like his relationship with Delia, also has parasitic traits (he lets Desmond cook for him, he cheats on Chris and his wife), which Thailand seems to free himself from when he joins a reggae band for his "new." Brothers “writes songs.

"All blacks are brothers," Mick said flippantly to Desmond. Gabriel is also confronted with this thesis, in his case several times and massively. Unlike Desmond, who dismisses Mick's unreflective utterance with a wave of his hand, he vigorously defends himself. His first friend Sibyl, who is also outclassed with a black parent and anything but social, defines herself obsessively about her skin color and the "we" of a discriminated minority. Gabriel argues that this is exactly the “basis for any kind of racism ” and: “Another person is not my brother because of a physical commonality, in this case his pigmentation . Or else: All people are my brothers. ”Sibyl laughs at this, but Gabriel is serious. - Is he missing a biological brother? He would probably say no. Which does not mean that he would not gain anything if someone could be found to fill this gap; In any case, the end of the novel with Albert's impetus to establish a future connection between his uncle and his father points in this direction.

classification

A review praised the novel as “great German news”, deliberately transposing a genre designation from overseas: by telling brothers about origin and non- white identity without making its forms and questions dependent on this topic, it is on the same level with novels for which the term “ Great American Novel ” is used in the USA - works that unite the existential, the cultural and the contemporary. Similarly, the appreciation by one of the meanwhile numerous TV critics' rounds in the German-speaking area: Thomae proves psychological and sociological intelligence, combines linguistic wit with a "casual" narrative, draws a large picture of Germany and Great Britain and shows "how we live today". The term social novel is not explicitly used, but corresponds to what the author, according to her own admission, was striving for.

Writers and works of reference character, to which reference is made, among others, are Zadie Smith (for her "very close look at curricula vitae and zeitgeist circumstances"), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (for how "lightly yet profound" she treats the subject of racism ), Jeffrey Eugenides with Middlesex and Dany Lafferières The art of loving a black man without getting tired , which is even quoted in the novel. The attributes Anglo-Saxon and entertaining are also mentioned several times: Brothers is said to be “intelligent, humorous and entertaining in an Anglo-Saxon way”, “in the lean style of American authors”, “an entertainment novel at the highest level”. - "And yes," agrees Thomae, "why shouldn't one [...] be entertained?"

Awards

expenditure

literature

Scientific contributions

Reviews

conversations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Interview with Jackie Thomae: I have experience with annoying questions. In: Der Tagesspiegel , September 2, 2019, accessed on January 4, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c Tobias Becker: Is being German in the genes or in the head? In: Der Spiegel , August 16, 2019, accessed on January 12, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Anne Amend-Söchting: Flucht und Flow vs. Fight and compensation. In: literaturkritik.de , October 2019, accessed on January 12, 2020.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Marie Schmidt : A great German news. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 14, 2019, accessed on January 12, 2020.
  5. ↑ Jackie Thomae: Brothers . Hanser Berlin, 2019, p. 219, p. 259, p. 25, p. 413.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Andrea Diener : Not liking drums is not enough. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 11, 2019, accessed on January 12, 2020.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f Juliane Liebert: Happiness lurks on the corner. In: Die Zeit , September 25, 2019, accessed on January 12, 2020.
  8. ↑ Jackie Thomae: Brothers . Hanser Berlin, 2019, p. 260.
  9. ↑ Jackie Thomae: Brothers . Hanser Berlin, 2019, p. 44, p. 133, p. 181.
  10. ↑ Jackie Thomae: Brothers . Hanser Berlin, 2019, p. 57.
  11. ↑ Jackie Thomae: Brothers . Hanser Berlin, 2019, pp. 254/55.
  12. ↑ a b Worth reading quartet with Denis Scheck. SWR television, December 12, 2019, accessed on January 26, 2020.
  13. ↑ This is what she said at a reading in Leipzig on January 7, 2020.
  14. ↑ a b Simone Hamm: Jackie Thomae: Brothers. WDR , October 11, 2019, accessed on January 26, 2020.
  15. ↑ Katharina Granzin: Jackie Thomae: "Brothers" - Of mothers, fathers and sons. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , October 8, 2019, accessed on January 26, 2020.