I am worried mom

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Vladimir Kaminer, 2010

I'm worried, Mama is a volume with humorous- satirical stories by Russian-born Vladimir Kaminer, who lives and writes in Germany . The book was in 2004 in the Random House group belonging Manhattan publishing house published. In the tradition of his previous works Russendisko (2000), Schönhauser Allee (2001) and Mein deutsches Dschungelbuch (2004), the writer and journalist described the pitfalls and peculiarities of German cultural and private life, especially from a perspective, in everyday stories from his family's environment of a member of two cultures.

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The protagonists of the stories, each comprising three to six printed pages, are the family members, his wife Olga, his two children and his parents, who are already known from the author's earlier books. With kindergarten and school enrollment (off to school ), the focus of his stories shifts to new fields.

Kaminer exposes the Kafkaesque efforts of the immigration authorities to draw his three-year-old son Sebastian's attention to the fact that he is staying illegally in Germany (Sebastian and the immigration authorities) by unmasking the paradox of the situation in simple dialogues: “But you won't get a child passport for your son because you and your wife are not German citizens. So your son is also considered a foreigner and must first apply for a residence permit. (...) But he hasn't been abroad at all, just in his mother's womb. Sebastian has been permanently in Germany since his birth. Even if he wanted to, he could not travel because, as you wrote correctly, he does not have a child passport. ”The grotesque 27 questions in“ Application for a residence permit ”start with the ten questions relating to the three-year-old's family situation: his Previous convictions, ex-wives and previous nationalities, which Kaminer simply replied with the comment "child". His following laconic but ultimately truthful answers irritate the clerk. But as a “good person and excellent employee”, she certainly did not come up with the “whole nonsense with the applications” according to Kaminer herself and ultimately issues the residence permit for Sebastian and the passport.

At the children's birthday party of a kindergarten friend of his daughter Nicole, Kaminer created a parallel picture of the parents, who thoughtfully discussing world politics and the north-south divide, and of the children who were trying to civilize the turtle through certain invasive measures: “A tremendous surge in modernization had taken place. In addition to the wheels, she now had a sail on top of the tank and a small fan at the back for steering, as well as a transparent plastic cover around her head, which was probably supposed to play the role of an airbag . She was clearly over-modernized, didn't move from the spot and looked angry. The turtle demonstratively rejected all values ​​of our western civilization, the freedom of rapid movement as well as all security measures. She probably just wanted to be a perfectly normal turtle, like you and me. "

The title choice becomes obvious in the last story. In view of his worries about the seemingly futureless children of the night who are either loitering in soulless fast-food temples or on the street, he predicts to a doorman that the “lost children of the sandman” will one day take over the city.

expenditure

Adaptations

Audio book

  • I am worried mom . Read by Wladimir Kaminer, Random House Audio, ISBN 3-89830-773-5 , 2 CD, approx. 140 min, June 2004.

reception

Matryoshka figures

Shortly before publication, Die Welt printed the first chapter German for Beginners under the title German for Beginners on June 8, 2004 . ... old ladies with thick horn-rimmed glasses and the pitfalls of this language . In it he described his first experiences with the German language in view of his confrontation with a school class to which he was supposed to introduce himself in a question-and-answer session. Just one day later, Kaminer himself was a guest on Anke Late Night on Sat.1 to present the book. The first edition of the book finally appeared on June 15. Significantly, the cover shows six matryoshka figures.

Reviews

  • “The short, independent episodes are easy to read without being undemanding. Kaminer gets to the heart of things by simply describing them as they are. An entertaining read that reveals an eye for the little things and supposed banalities in life. Wladimir Kaminer is happy to delight us with other stories of this kind. It's not his first ... "
  • "The message always comes across: It is about something obviously incompatible, but which then teams up or at least tries to - because is a civilized, fast turtle with wheels mounted on the tank really happier? Kaminer's written lightness is beneficial, his well-behaved manner with which he tells of the peculiarities of the various niches. He makes you smile again and again. And lets sympathize with the stranger. Makes you curious. "
  • “In 'I'm worried, Mama', Wladimir Kaminer not only fooled himself, his family and his people, he also held a mirror in front of our noses at the same time. What now sounds like this audio book is a complete social criticism and analysis, but is primarily a collection of funny and entertaining stories from the everyday life of a man between cultures. "
  • "In these gorgeous funny stories, Wladimir Kaminer describes the normal madness of everyday life from its most entertaining side."
  • “Kaminer's secret is the gentleness of his satire. Apparently he only lets things take their course and makes no fuss about setting them in motion himself. He is a Candide of normality. "
  • "Whoever reads Kaminer in the subway or in a café should definitely have strong nerves, because people will always turn around after the hysterical giggles."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vladimir Kaminer: I'm worried, mom. Manhattan, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-442-54560-9 , pp. 107-110.
  2. ↑ I'm worried, mom. Pp. 29-33.
  3. ↑ I'm worried, mom. P. 30 f.
  4. ↑ I'm worried, mom. P. 44.
  5. ↑ The book is also dedicated to his mother.
  6. ↑ I'm worried, mom. P. 253 f.
  7. ↑ I'm worried, mom. Pp. 11-16.
  8. ↑ Wladimir Kaminer: German for Beginners. ... old ladies with thick horn-rimmed glasses and the pitfalls of this language . In: The world . June 8, 2004.
  9. ↑ Stefanie Brink: Kaminer family. On: rezensions.ch. February 24, 2005. Accessed September 20, 2012.
  10. ↑ Julia Meyn: "But not ..." Wladimir Kaminer's "I'm worried, mom". On: berlinerliteraturkritik.de. January 13, 2005. Accessed September 20, 2012.
  11. ↑ Review of the audio book I'm worried, Mama , read by Wladimir Kaminer. On: echthoerbuch.de. Accessed September 20, 2012.
  12. ↑ Brief presentation and criticism. In: The time . 2004. Accessed September 20, 2012 ( [1] ).
  13. ↑ Dieter Hildebrandt : Wladimir Kaminer: I'm worried, mom. In: The time. ( zeit.de ).
  14. ↑ Brigitte