Coraline

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Coraline (Original title: Coraline ) is a 175-page fantasy / horror - novel by British author Neil Gaiman , who in 2002 Bloomsbury Publishing and Harper Collins appeared. Gaiman describes the experiences of nine-year-old Coraline during her school holidays at her parents' new home. Coraline can be read as a modern version of Alice in Wonderland . The illustrations in the book are by Dave McKean . The German translation by Cornelia Krutz-Arnold first appeared in 2003 under the title Coraline. Trapped behind the mirror at Arena Verlag , Würzburg .

subjects

The main theme of the novella is overcoming one's own fears, true to the motto: You are only courageous if you are afraid of something and do it anyway.

In addition, the general sensitivities of girls of Coraline's age play a major role - the ever-threatening boredom, feeling that they are not taken seriously by their parents, always wanting something other than what is practically hip and, finally, a great deal of curiosity. Coraline repeatedly and emphatically describes herself as a discoverer.

action

The last week of vacation has begun. Coraline spends it with her parents in the new apartment that her family recently moved into. Both parents are in the computer industry and work from home. The weather is bad, Coraline is bored and gets on everyone's nerves.

Since she has no other choice, she begins a journey of discovery through the house and apartment. She visits the somewhat strange neighbors and inspects the overgrown garden. In the parlor she noticed a door that - carefully locked - apparently leads nowhere. When she opens the door with an old rusty key, she stands in front of a bare brick wall. Behind it is the empty neighboring apartment, explains her mother.

During a disturbed night's sleep, something lures Coraline to this door. When it is open this time there is a long dark corridor behind it and Coraline, as a declared explorer, goes in and through.

On the other hand, she has apparently returned to the familiar, parental apartment. She is greeted with joy by her mother and father, who introduce themselves to her as their "Other Parents". There is the uncomplicated meal that she always dreams of (her real father loves to cook “recipes”), the toys are exactly what she has always wanted, except that the other parents wear button-like shapes on their faces instead of eyes the whole thing quite scary. At the end of the day, the "Other Mother" offers Coraline to stay in the Otherworld forever. The only condition would be to have buttons sewn on instead of eyes, which wouldn't hurt at all. Coraline decides to go back to her real parents anyway. Obviously reluctantly, the "other mother" lets them go.

Upon her return to the familiar home, Coraline discovers that her real parents have disappeared. A vision in front of the wall mirror in the hall reinforces her fears - her real parents are in the power of the "other mother". A crime report at the police station is not taken seriously, and Coraline is suddenly faced with the challenge of having to rescue her parents herself. From her neighbors, two old actresses lost in their memories, she receives an inconspicuous field stone with a hole in the middle as a talisman. Maybe he could help, they think, whatever.

So equipped, Coraline returns to the realm of the other parents . The "other mother" greets her exuberantly and assures Coraline of her total love. Coraline, on the other hand, is reserved to stubborn and quickly makes it clear why she is here. She wants her parents back! A problem that the “other mother” initially doesn't think she knows about, but then comes up with the claim that she is not welcome with these parents anyway, whatever she wants with them. An argument that Coraline resists, and after she remains inaccessible, she is locked by the other mother in a pitch-dark room behind the wall mirror.

There, in the darkness, the spirits of three children make contact with her, who in the distant past suffered a fate similar to that of Coraline now. They tell Coraline that the "Other Mother" stole their souls and hid them somewhere, which is why they are bound to this place. They also advise her to challenge the "other mother" - preferably with a game. There is no guarantee that she will stick to the rules, but creatures like her love to play, and that is Coraline's greatest chance.

After being let out of the mirror dungeon again, Coraline challenges the "other mother" playfully. She offers her total submission should she fail to find the souls of the three children and their parents. In the event of her victory, she wants to return to her traditional home unmolested with her parents. The "other mother" agrees and swears by her right hand that she will keep these agreements. The game begins.

With intelligence, courage and unexpected support (for example the perforated stone of the neighbors shows amazing skills), Coraline succeeds in solving the given tasks. The "other mother" is beside herself. There is a showdown in front of the door to the passage. Coraline overcomes the last obstacle with the help of a speaking cat, the only being who is present in both worlds, identical with itself.

The door slams shut behind her, but the right hand, the oath hand of the "other mother" is severed and stays with Coraline in the real world. Getting rid of them for good is the last task for Coraline and she also solves this with flying colors. School starts the next day and Coraline has never looked forward to the new school year as calmly as this time.

characters

  • Coraline Jones - The Young Explorer. She is original, intelligent and courageous. Coraline is often irritated because she doesn't feel taken seriously because of her youth or because it is raining and she is bored. She is described as “small for her age”, but that doesn't stop her from messing with anyone or women if necessary.
  • Mrs. Jones - Coraline's mother. She is very busy and sometimes a little inattentive. Nonetheless, she absolutely loves her daughter. Coraline thinks she's a little too nice and therefore almost boring.
  • Mr. Jones - Coraline's father. He works at home and is in the computer industry. He is friendly and helpful but almost never has time to play with Coraline. The father loves to cook interesting new creations from a wide variety of recipe books. Coraline detests these cooking skills, which she disparagingly dubbed “recipes”. She just likes it, fried chicken or pizza are to her taste.
  • The Cat - A black cat from Coraline's world that acts as a kind of mentor on her journey between the worlds. She insists on not having a name, as cats generally don't need names. In Coraline's real world she cannot speak, but she can in elsewhere. Otherwise, however, it remains the same, which is why the "other mother" also calls them vermin. At the end of the novel, she played a key role in saving Coralines from the Otherworld.
  • The Other Mother - The creature that is largely responsible for the creation of the Otherworld. At first she looks astonishingly like Coraline's real mother, except for the black button eyes on her face. In the course of the novel this similarity disappears, it becomes paler, drier and more spidery. The other mother can't really create anything, but she can copy and modify things. She has been living for a very long time and apparently she collects children in order, as soon as she is bored with them, to suck out their life force and finally to hide their souls.
  • The Other Father - is a creation of the Other Mother to mislead and deceive Coraline on her first visit. Later, after showing disobedience, he is transformed by her into a larva-like insect and is supposed to prevent Coraline in the basement from doing her job. She narrowly escapes this trap.
  • Miss Spink and Miss Forcible - Two retired actresses who, with half a dozen old Scottish terriers, live in the apartment under the Coralines. The two neighbors have a clear tendency towards the esoteric and read, for example, Coraline's future from her tea leaves. They give Coraline the stone with a hole, which is still very useful in the Otherworld.
  • Mr. Bobo - A retired circus performer who allegedly trains a mouse orchestra in the apartment above the Coralines. At the end of the book, Coraline actually thinks she can hear soft orchestral music from his rooms.
  • The three ghost children - three former victims of the Other Mother who hope for salvation without souls. After Coraline rescues them, they briefly appear in their previous form in the real world and say thank you.

Adaptations

Coraline has already been adapted in many ways; In 2009 the stop-motion film Coraline by Henry Selick was shown , which differs from the book in some aspects in terms of plot and characters. A video game version was released for the film, in which Coraline interacts with other characters and solves small games. In the same year an off-Broadway production with music and text by Stephin Merritt and a book by David Greenspan started. Furthermore, a comic for the book by Fr. Craig Russell was created before the film was adapted.

In addition, an opera of the same name was composed by Marc-Anthony Turnage in 2017 and premiered in 2018 at the Barbican Center in London. The opera was co-financed by the Royal Opera Covent Garden Foundation, the Opéra de Lille , the Freiburg Theater , the Folkoperean and the Victorian Opera and was last performed in German at the Zurich Opera House .

expenditure

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ update AG www.update.ch: Coraline. Retrieved December 26, 2019 .