The Exchange (Trifonow)

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The exchange ( Russian Обмен Obmen ) is a story by the Soviet writer Yuri Trifonow , which appeared in 1969 in the December issue of the Moscow literary magazine Nowy Mir and in 1973 on p. 5–62 of the Langer Abschied collection , also in Moscow. The text belongs to Trifonov's urban prose - the Moscow novellas .

Towards the end of the 1960s on the Moscow periphery: Viktor Georgievich Dmitrijew, called Vitja, wants to solve his housing problem.

action

In this satire on the annoying crampedness of the high-rise apartment buildings, the 37-year-old family man Vitja speculates with the death of his mother Xenia Feodorovna, who is suffering from stomach cancer, in the urgent solution to his housing problem.

To be more precise: when the mother is discharged from the hospital terminally ill, Vitja's wife Lena first comes up with the idea of ​​swapping an apartment. If a tenant willing to move in is found for the mother's apartment and the mother moves in with the son, then the family of four is entitled to larger living space. In realizing this idea, Lena sends her Vitja to the front and acts sparingly from the background. In all of this, Vitja, this hypocrite, has a sly behind the ears.

The mother absolutely does not want to move, although she loves her teenage granddaughter Natascha and her son Vitja beyond measure. The obstacle is the wicked daughter-in-law. Xenia Feodorovna had previously been the senior librarian in a large Moscow academy library and, as a pensioner, had completed her knowledge of the English language by herself to pass the time, because she wanted to consume these entertaining crime novels in the original. Lena, who works as a professional translator of technical literature from English, laughed at the pronunciation of Xenia, who was learning English, and thus drew her anger.

The office worker Vitja, who graduated from university as a technician years ago and gave up his dissertation, is completely unfamiliar with the procedure for swapping an apartment at the Moscow municipal housing administration. He turns to Tanja, mother of 11-year-old Alik. His 34-year-old former lover Tanja, now divorced, arranges a conversation with one of her work colleagues. This gentleman generously informs Vitja of the first necessary step when swapping an apartment. Tanja goes even further. The 34-year-old takes Vitja into her apartment after work and gives him money. Vitja, who after 14 years of marriage to Lena still thinks that Tanja would have been the better match, does not take advantage of the opportunity to have sex and quickly gets out of the dust with the money. Tanja is too thin for him. With his mother, who is staying in her daughter Lora's apartment, Mitja doesn't know how to bring the exchange of apartments up. Circumstances come to his aid. Lora wants to go on her annual expedition to Kunja with her husband, Felix. When Vitja suggests moving to the mother in this context, the patient refuses. A few days later, Xenia Feodorovna, who has such a longing for her granddaughter Natascha and does not want to stand in the way of her daughter Lora, agrees.

At the first attempt, the bureaucratic hurdles in the Moscow municipal housing administration cannot be overcome. In the second attempt, this actually succeeds - lately well equipped with practically acquired bureaucratic knowledge. But the mother has since succumbed to her illness.

reception

  • Reinhard Baumgart criticized on June 4, 1976 in Die Zeit that Vera's and Vitja's tricks seemed a little too transparent.
  • Ralf Schröder sees the satire in April 1982 as the clash of the completely different families Lenas and Vitjas - not described in the article above.

Adaptations

radio play

filming

  • 1977, Soviet Union : The Exchange , feature film by Raimondas Wabalas with Girts Jakowlews and Walentina Titowa

literature

German-language editions

German first edition
expenditure
  • Yuri Trifonov: Moscow Novellas. The exchange. German by Corinna and Gottfried Wojtek. P. 251–314 in Juri Trifonow: Selected works. Volume 2 Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1983 (1st edition, edition used)

Secondary literature

  • Ralf Schröder (Ed.): Juri Trifonow: Selected works. Volume 4. Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1983 (1st edition)

Web links

  • The text online at litmir.me (Russian)
  • Entry at fantlab.ru (Russian)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schröder, Juri Trifonow: Selected works. Volume 4 , p. 401, penultimate entry
  2. ↑ Russian ten stories, reference at fantlab.ru
  3. ↑ Whispering roar. Yuri Trifonov's Moscow Novellas
  4. ^ Schröder, Juri Trifonow: Selected works. Volume 4 , afterword, p. 383, 18. Zvo
  5. ↑ Radio play entry at hoerspieleipps.net
  6. ↑ Russian Раймондас Вабалас
  7. ↑ Russian Гиртс Яковлевс
  8. ↑ Russian Титова, Валентина Антиповна
  9. ↑ Film The Exchange : Entry at kino-teatr. ru (Russian)