The Seasons (Bichsel)

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The Seasons (1967) is the second book and at the same time the only novel by Peter Bichsel . "The Seasons" is not one of his children's stories (1969), but a book intended for adults. The writing style is largely the same typical narrative style. The work, which is less than a hundred pages long, was included in the book series called Schweizer Bibliothek by Das Magazin in 2005/2006 . For a reading from the manuscript, Bichsel received the Group 47 Prize in 1965 .

content

In Peter Bichsel's novel “The Seasons” there are two parallel stories that have a common area and thus mix. One story is that of a house that was built in 1927 and in which the first-person narrator lives in an apartment with his family. It tells how the house ages and renovations are necessary, how a boiler has to be replaced or how vermin attack the roof covering and many everyday things. The first-person narrator also writes about the residents of the house, this is where the second story comes into play. While the narrator describes his room, he brings the speech to a jug of water on a chest of drawers. However, this jug of water does not exist as the narrator describes it, but it could exist that way. Now the narrator gives the water jug ​​a story that could well be true. Through this story the reader gets to know Kieninger, a character of the narrator who brought him the water jug.

Kieninger is the main element of the second story. The narrator looks for a story that suits him so that he can write it down for the reader. Now the narrator is faced with a problem: he cannot find a real story for Kieninger, a story that fits his person. This proves to be very difficult as Kieninger becomes more real the longer. The first-person narrator wants to get rid of Kieninger: he fears him, fears his anger. He wants to forget him, wants to forget that Kieninger exists. Now he has to finish a story that doesn't exist. The narrator now has to master this challenge and with it the author develops a completely new theory of writing that distrusts the author himself. The novel contains a hidden theory about writing that is also the key to understanding it.

The main characters

First-person narrator

The first-person narrator is a character who sits at his desk in his house and writes stories. He begins to invent new stories and simply writes «probable». When he invents the character Kieninger, his situation begins to change, because Kieninger does not behave like other characters. In the course of the novel, the narrator, who bears an astonishing resemblance to Peter Bichsel himself, gains new insights into the narrative itself. The interesting thing is that he becomes critical of himself and the writing and ultimately assigns the writer himself a certain responsibility for his story. The first-person narrator designs a new writing theory that Peter Bichsel integrates into a novel using the example of the first-person narrator.

Kieninger

Kieninger is the most important figure next to the first-person narrator. With this figure begins the examination of writing. This character is not so easily fobbed off with a story invented by the narrator. She follows the narrator in his mind and does not leave him alone. Kieninger also shows astonishing similarities with the first-person narrator - and thus with the author himself. For example, he is about the same age as the first-person narrator and realizes some of the narrator's childhood dreams that the narrator was never able to experience because some of them are only fictional.

Structural elements

At first glance, the text is intentionally unstructured. It is a flow of stories, experiences and perceptions of the first-person narrator. In this way, the novel becomes a single "flow of thoughts" in which chaotic thoughts, illogical situations or unimportant things are described. Otherwise, the text is divided into eight chapters, but this division does not make much sense. The only thing that is remarkable is that the narrator gains new insights in the transition between the chapters, but does not reveal them directly. You have to read this knowledge out of the text, because even if the narrator writes down his thoughts, he does not give the instructions for deciphering them.

The house and Kieninger

A certain structure can be seen in the change of the motif. In some parts the house is the decisive element, in others Kieninger. "The house" as a motif included any description of residents, walls, gardens and rooms. These are narratives based on the perception of the first-person narrator. «Kieninger» is represented as a motif wherever the narrator strays from reality. Kieninger is the narrator's mental level on which he deals with ideas and fantasies. In some cases, the differences are clearly recognizable, in some cases it is extremely difficult to recognize whether the first-person narrator is talking about something real or something fictional, especially in relation to new people.

The seasons

The seasons appear again and again in this novel and also have an important role in the message of the novel. The narrator does not mention them at certain intervals or in certain situations, they appear relatively arbitrarily. The narrator sees the seasons as something that keeps coming back: summer, autumn, spring, winter. In contrast to all the changes that are happening, the seasons remain unchanging. On the one hand, the house that is older, repainted and remodeled and thus changeable. On the other hand, there is Kieninger, who is even more volatile than the house, since he is an invention of the first-person narrator. The seasons are an unchangeable motif because they always come back. Whether the winter gets warmer or the summer rains - there is definitely a winter and a summer coming. The seasons are so strong that they are also able to change the house, for example. They also influence Kieninger, who doesn't like the seasons. Maybe because the seasons have something it doesn't - permanence.

Quotes

  • “I think the point of literature is not that content is conveyed, but rather that the narration is maintained. Because people need stories in order to survive. They need models with which they can tell their own lives. "
  • "For me, formulating is already an attempt to overcome fear."

Book editions

  • The seasons . Luchterhand, Neuwied 1967 (first edition, Edition Otto F. Walter)
  • The seasons . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1970, ISBN 3-499-11241-8 (paperback, rororo 1241)
  • The seasons . Novel. Luchterhand, Darmstadt 1975, ISBN 3-472-61200-2 (paperback, SL 200)
  • The seasons . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-518-39280-8 (paperback, st 2780)
  • The seasons . Das Magazin, Zurich 2006, ISBN 3-905753-17-0 (Swiss Library 17)