Heaven that ends nowhere
Heaven that ends nowhere is a childhood novel by the Austrian writer Marlen Haushofer , which was first published in 1966 by S. Mohn in Gütersloh.
content
The strongly autobiographical text describes the decisive years of an adolescent girl, based on the magical worldview of the toddler, up to the beginning of puberty . The milieu is mainly determined by the contradiction between the rural environment - the father is a district forester - and aristocratic guests who spend the summer in the forester's house.
The title motif appears at the beginning of the text as: "... and the patch of sky, a deep blue alley that ends nowhere." This "patch of heaven" is the only piece of the outside world that the two and a half year old girl Meta recognizes from the bottom of an old rain barrel in which it was placed as a punishment.
Haushofer first describes the little girl's attempts to absorb the outside world, which is felt to be overwhelming, not only mentally, but almost physically, for example: "In early summer, she burns with wild love for the peonies and trembles with the desire to squeeze the red leaves together and bite them." However, Haushofer already introduces the wall motif on page 15 , which shows the alienation between mother and daughter. Meta is far too boyish for the mother and the child appreciates the interaction with boys of the same age as well as the story-telling father, who opens up the world of literary " classics " to her early on, against the resistance of her mother . The ambitious mother finally insists, against the will of the father, on the girl's entry into a monastic boarding school . This means the biggest (late) turning point, because the previous freedom of rural life is being replaced by inexorable discipline. Here childhood ends prematurely and Meta - apparently - fits into the unchangeable. Towards the end of the novel she looks at a blood-drinking brake : "A tiny drop of blood is at Meta's skin, and the small wound does not burn. You just have to let the horseflies calmly drink their meal, then they won't hurt. "
structure
Haushofer dispenses with a continuous plot in the novel, published in 1966 , but sets loosely chronologically arranged episodes ; so the text is more like a report . The author proceeded similarly in the previously published novel Die Wand .
literature
- First edition : Marlen Haushofer: Heaven that ends nowhere. Sigbert Mohn Verlag, Gütersloh 1966
- Marlen Haushofer: Heaven that ends nowhere. Claassen Verlag, Hildesheim 1992, ISBN 3-546-00030-7
supporting documents
- ↑ Marlen Haushofer - Heaven that ends nowhere , Claassen Verlag, Hildesheim 1992 p. 8
- ↑ Heaven that ends nowhere p. 22
- ↑ Heaven That Ends Nowhere, p. 220