In the name of the father (novel)

In the name of the father is an autobiographical novel by Reinhard P. Gruber . He describes the life path of a man from a simple working class who is supposed to fulfill his father's dreams of social advancement.

content

The settings of the novel are “a small village in a beautiful area in the country and yet in the city” on the Mur , a student residence and university in Vienna and a monastery near the Vienna Votive Church .

The father's own aspirations for advancement are projected onto the son of the family. The father is a foreman, his son Konrad is supposed to rise to a higher social class and become a "doctor". He is therefore sent to a high school. Konrad is not studying law or medicine, as his father had imagined, but philosophy. He breaks off his studies because he finds no meaning in this study and enters a monastery as a novice . His parents react in shock, but above all the father who breaks off all contact with his son.

Two years later he returns home to find his desperate mother. She would have liked to write to him, but her father forbade her. “We don't have a son anymore, he shouted, if you write to him I'll kill myself! […] I tore the cartridges out of his hands not only once. [...] Konrad, you brought a lot of misery to our house. Because of you, your father became a drinker. " Konrad tells his mother that his father only ever thought of himself. He never cared about the happiness of his children and always saw him as a jumping jack that he wanted to brag about in front of people. But when the father learns that Konrad has left the monastery, he can hardly believe his "luck".

Konrad is finishing his book “The Consequence - Diary of a Monk”, which he had already started with in the monastery, which brings him great journalistic success. A few days later, he got a job with a major daily newspaper that wanted to set up a local editorial office in Konrad's hometown. He marries Hanna, with whom he has had a two-year relationship and who is expecting a child, although it is unclear who the father is. Konrad says to Hanna about love: “Love is not a feeling, it is a will. It is there to increase pleasure. " The two move into a shared apartment and live together. Years later, Konrad makes the same mistakes as his father: “My daughter is supposed to go to high school. I don't want to force her, but you have to give her an education that leaves all options open to her later. [...] Maybe she will fight back against a higher school. In this case I will force them [...] to do so by all means. "

To the form

The novel is divided into many small chapters. The narrative perspective changes frequently. The story from the father's point of view is mirrored in the end by that of the son. In between lies the life story of the 15-year-old son Konrad at the beginning of the novel. The father's page-filling monologues consist of simple, well-rehearsed, striking sentences, such as: “Having my own house was more important to me than the master. Those who work also achieve something. Good work is always paid. " (P. 7)

output

• Reinhard P. Gruber: In the name of the father. Novel in sequels . Droschl: Vienna 1998. ISBN 3-85420-482-5