A little closer to the clouds
A little closer to the clouds is a youth novel by GDR writer Günter Görlich . The book was first published by Kinderbuchverlag Berlin in 1971 and had 15 editions by 1985. There were also editions translated into the respective national language in Bulgaria (1975), Estonia (1976), the Soviet Union (1979) and Slovakia (1983).
content
The pupil Klaus Herper, who is identical to the narrator of the novel , moves with his family from Potsdam to Berlin-Friedrichshain at the beginning of the eighth school year due to his father's change of job . On his first day of school, Klaus gets into an argument with Heinz Mateja, the best student in class 8b, who is respected by students and teachers, and Klaus also goes to this class. After initial difficulties, which he often created himself through deliberately provocative behavior, for example through his criticism of the “ class day in production ”, he met Bully and Karin, with whom he became friends. Klaus gains respect from others primarily through his athletic abilities.
The teacher of 8b is Alfred Magnus, popular with the students. He is unhappy that the two best students in the class, Klaus and Heinz, are in constant conflict. He tries to mediate between the two, which he succeeds in doing. The admiration of both for the teacher Magnus has a major influence on this development. After that, the two become best friends. During a school trip to Hiddensee , the first allusions to a Magnus illness are made without the reader finding out more. During this trip, the class went on a night hike to the Dead Guy , where the teacher recited the poem Left March by Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky and said that he had heard the poem for the first time in the same place forty years earlier, by a young actor named Arthur Hilmer. At the time he was deterred by the poem's aggressiveness; He then got into a serious argument with Hilmer, which was followed by a few more, until they both became friends in some way. After a last meeting in the summer of 1933, Magnus never heard from Hilmer, who is said to have fought as a staunch communist in the Spanish Civil War. On the way back from the Dead Guy , Magnus had a slight fit of weakness, which he was able to hide from his students.
A few days after the class trip, Alfred Magnus died of a "heart attack" in the staff room during a school break. The death of her class teacher shakes all the students in the class, but above all Heinz Mateja. After a short time, the young teacher Anne Morgenstern is appointed as a successor for Mr. Magnus. She has great difficulty in gaining respect in class and repeatedly complains of a lack of discipline and order. Klaus, Karin and Bully change their attitude towards the new teacher quite early after having had personal conversations with her, and from now on they try to help the new teacher. Heinz, on the other hand, who as the class representative ("group secretary") has great influence on the class, continues to oppose the new teacher openly. With a signature campaign, Heinz wants to force the school administration to replace the class teacher. After Klaus refuses to support him and gives him his true opinion in a letter, their friendship breaks.
After the situation seems to get stuck, the teacher suggests to Klaus to talk to Heinz in order to get the whole class to rethink. He should try to visit the widow Magnus with him and persuade her to visit the class. Klaus overcomes himself and starts talking to Heinz. He agrees after one night to think about it. When they both visit Mrs. Magnus, she is very pleased and immediately accepts. Before they both leave, she reads them an entry from Magnus' diary that was made on the school trip. The two learn how Magnus valued them in their different ways. Then they leave the apartment. They split up after a brief chat. The end remains open .
In addition, there are other narrative threads that illuminate the relationships of some students to their families and their work situation, especially those of the families of Klaus and Karin, as well as an impending romance between Karin and Klaus, which, however, also remains open.
reception
A little closer to the clouds was recommended for readers aged 13 and over and was part of the curriculum for eighth grade schools in the GDR . From today's perspective, the school novel is regarded as conforming to the regime; the author falls back on "traditional action patterns of the development novel".
The novel had an impact on youth literature in the GDR. In Karl Neumann's 1974 novel Ulrike, for example, there is talk of “Görlich's controversial cloud book”; the 1980 published novel Island of the Swans of Benno Pludra may in its examination of the subject as an alternative to a step closer to the clouds are considered. Görlich himself makes Tambari a central theme in his novel Pludras .
filming
In 1973 the television of the GDR produced a television film in two parts with the same title based on Görlich's novel . Directed by Christian Steinke , Kurt Böwe can be seen in the role of Alfred Magnus . It was first broadcast on April 6, 1973 on GDR 1 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on editions, editions and publishers in the catalog of the German National Library (accessed on September 2)
- ^ Karl Neumann: Ulrike , page 156, Kinderbuchverlag Berlin , 10th edition 1986, ISBN 3-358-00883-5
- ↑ Failing fathers, fleeing children. Post-patriarchal impressions in Benno Pludra's children's literary work ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Gina Weinkauff on the website of the Heidelberg University of Education (PDF, 48 kB; accessed on July 15, 2010)
- ^ GDR children's literature - Our piglet Eduard - happy in the LPG by Heidi Strobel on time online (accessed on July 15, 2010)
- ↑ tvwunschliste - the TV and TV series information portal (accessed on July 14, 2010)
