Island 34

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The author Annette Pehnt, 2012

The work island 34 is a 2003 published novel by Annette Pehnt .

The novel is mainly about the discovery or the urge to research of the nameless first-person narrator. The protagonist lacks a central passion on which she can focus. She eventually developed a passion for the 34 basalt islands off the coast, with the island 34 arousing particular curiosity in her. She begins researching the islands in libraries and then embarks on an expedition with the aim of reaching the 34th island. She arrives first on island 28, is accommodated there in a sparse inn and gets to know the few islanders, their mentality and culture. With the help of a garbage truck she gets to island 32 and a research group and then to number 33, where there is a garbage dump . The novel ends when the protagonist sees Insel 34, her place of longing, but does not come to a tour.

action

The work is divided into a total of ten chapters.

The plot begins immediately at the beginning of the novel: The sixteen-year-old first-person narrator reports on her consistently excellent achievements in school. However, these are exactly the problem for them. Because of the consistently good performance, she cannot find a topic in which she is better than in other areas, and thus cannot get enthusiastic about any particular passion. However, she has now found this passion: She is interested in the so-called Insel 34 , the most distant island in an archipelago consisting of 34 islands. She would now like to continue researching and visit them. Her father, who always wished his daughter would have a passion, is particularly pleased.

After starting her research on the islands in the library of her school as well as in the city library, her previously very good academic performance deteriorates. She begins to neglect school for her research, despite her upcoming high school diploma and the worried teachers, especially her geography teacher Mr. Kohlhas. To support the research, the protagonist's parents and their daughter take a vacation on the coast off which the 34 islands lie. Just like on the islands, there is little tourism here. The narrator does not benefit from a vacation on the coast, because she does not even see the islands off the coast because they have disappeared in the haze.

The protagonist also notices external changes in herself that have arisen from the research. For example, she is gaining weight and is dissatisfied with them. At some point in the city library she meets the dialectologist Professor Losten, whose research work fascinates the protagonist. After graduating from high school with mediocre results, the professor for simple jobs hires her as an employee.

Zanka begins a relationship with the protagonist. He is described as wealthy and works in an office. For the protagonist, however, this relationship is rather emotionless and neutral, she lets the events pass through her rather passively. Even when she has a secret relationship with Nessel, who is actually with Lerke, she tends to assign the active role of the relationship to her partner.

The narrator finally notices that she neglects her research too much, mainly because of the love affairs. She takes this as an opportunity to decide to finally leave for the islands. With this wish, however, she is more likely to meet with rejection from her fellow men, although she has already considered these plans beforehand. Her parents, friends and even Professor Losten, who also researches the islands among other things, advise her not to travel. Nevertheless, she sets out and takes a bus to the coast off which the islands lie. She tries to find a ship that could take her to Island 34. Since the islands are very poorly connected to the mainland in terms of traffic, especially the further out they are at sea, this proves to be extremely difficult. Eventually she can find a garbage truck that can at least bring her to Island 28.

Arrived on island 28, she finds an inn called “techa”, which is run by Tesen and his wife and is usually not very well attended. The protagonist visits a church where the pastor Brother Leupold and several women meet regularly. There she also meets a woman named Marte, who takes her to an old people's home on the island after the first-person narrator expressed her wish to meet old people in order to hear and explore the old island language. However, the residents of the home do not want to speak to her and she has no success.

As the first-person narrator then learns from Marte, some of the islanders are funding a three-month scholarship for her so that she can devote herself to researching the island language on Island 28. The protagonists would like to use this primarily to learn bagpipes . She meets Dilse who tries to teach her to play the instrument. Initially, this works rather less. But as she practices diligently, she gets better and better. As a rehearsal room, her Tesen prepares a garage in which the narrator can play the bagpipe undisturbed.

In addition, the protagonist has to meet regularly with Marte and the other women who financed the scholarship. They make it clear that they have high expectations of the research of the first-person narrator in return for payment and that they also check it out. In addition, Marte is not thrilled that the narrator is using the scholarship to take bagpipe lessons. The first-person narrator tries to change the woman's mind by talking about an essay on the island language that she has written. She sends it to her parents, who are supposed to forward it to Professor Losten.

Nevertheless, the protagonist has a fixed goal: she would like to play on the "bagpipe night" that takes place regularly on the island. After a long period of practice, she finally manages to play the melodies with the other musicians at the festival, whereby the narrator suddenly starts crying. While Marte accompanies her outside and emphasizes again that the narrator made a mistake, the protagonist is suddenly pushed and lies with her hands in many shards of glass. She immediately runs back to her garage and spends several days there alone.

After a few days, she gets a visit from Zanka. After spending a few days in the garage, chatting and arguing together, the two decide to go away in Zanka's motorboat, with which he came to island 28. Although the first-person narrator wants to persuade Zanka to go to island 34, Zanka still sees no sense in it and takes her at least to island 32. When he arrives, he tries to get her to return home, but realizes that this is not possible and then begins the journey home to the coast alone.

On island 32, a team of excavators and archaeologists is busy digging up old wooden paths out of the bog. Also part of this group are the three men Jote, who is described as the leader of the group, Simon and Danni. The protagonist gets to know the everyday life of the group and tries to give them some help. But her plans for the onward journey do not end here either: she has learned from the workers that the supply ship that could take her to island 33 docks from time to time. So while she mainly spends the time waiting, she receives a letter from her parents, whom she has already written to on Island 28. However, they did not receive the essay written on Insel 28.

When the supply ship finally docks, the group says goodbye to the protagonist and even gives her farewell gifts. On the boat trip, the captain makes it clear that he will not go to island 34.

Arriving on island 33, the first-person narrator notices again that she is expected by a completely different scenario. There is a garbage dump on this island, which envelops the entire island in a stench. The landfill manager, the only employee and therefore the only resident of the island, is Mr. Wiesent. He has to do all the tasks on the island himself, but he does them very conscientiously. Here, too, the first-person narrator is shown everything and she gets to know the everyday life of the now only island inhabitant and helps him with his tasks.

But just as she thinks about the onward journey to her place of longing, the island 34. She hopes that Mr. Wiesent owns a boat that enables the trip over to the last island, her long-awaited destination. But these hopes are not confirmed. Nevertheless, the protagonist at least wants visual contact with island 34. The obstacle here, however, is the fog, which makes it impossible to see.

The plot ends with the first-person narrator being able to see island 34 through the fog one day. She dreams of visiting the island, but then turns back and packs her things.

The islands

The islands, especially Insel 34 , represent the place of longing for the protagonist and thus play a central role in the novel.

None of these islands, some of which are far from the coast, has a name, instead all 34 islands are simply numbered from 1-34. The island 34 is furthest away from the coast. In the novel, the overall picture of the islands is described as rather unspectacular: all are made of basalt , have no raw materials, have little tourism and are poorly connected to the mainland in terms of transport, especially the further away they are from the coast. The coast itself is also considered a place rarely visited by tourists.

Some people live on the islands who are considered to live independently on the islands and therefore have little to do with the people on the mainland. The narrator tours the following islands:

  • Island 28: Some residents live on this island: However, there are no children, as these are supposedly given to the mainland. The bagpipe is a traditional instrument and pickled cucumbers are an often eaten dish.
  • Insel 32: Here some grave workers and archaeologists are investigating an old oak path.
  • Island 33: There is a garbage dump on this island, which is managed by Mr. Wiesent, the only island resident. Although island 34 is the narrator's goal, which she does not reach in the novel, little is learned about this island. Allegedly, no one has traveled to it.

The protagonist's fellow human beings show little interest in visiting the islands: everyone advises the protagonist against a trip and considers it unimaginable to go to the islands.

Characters

Overview of the characters with whom the protagonist has contact:

Characters description
Nameless first-person narrator The protagonist, who was initially sixteen, describes herself as very intelligent, extremely good at school and unpopular with her classmates. She seems very emotionless, dry and looking for a passion. She finds this passion in the longing for the islands, especially the island 34.
Zanka Zanka is the protagonist's wealthy relationship partner. In addition, he has several relationships with other women. The protagonist does not mind this, however, as she otherwise feels little for him emotionally and instead allows the relationship to be more neutral and passive. Zanka is the only person who visits the protagonist on her trip to the islands.
father It is very important to the protagonist's father that his daughter discover a passion. He is therefore very disappointed that she achieves excellent results in all subjects. He supports her urge to research the islands.
mother The protagonist's research is often too much for the mother, mainly because she notices that the research on the islands has changed the protagonist's appearance. However, she supports her daughter's development and growing up and advocates their love affairs.
Professor Losten The protagonist meets the dialectologist Professor Losten in the city library and later works for him. She finds his reading and research very fascinating and spends a lot of time watching him in the library.
nettle Secret friend of the protagonist and relationship partner of Lerke.
Read Relationship partner of nettle.
Klaus-Peter He is the protagonist's secret crush.
Mr. Kohlhas Geography teacher of the protagonist who worries about the protagonist's academic performance during her research.
Tesen and his wife The couple run a run-down inn called “techa” on Insel 28 , in which the protagonist is staying. Tesen is described as being very taciturn.
Brother Leupold Brother Leupold is the pastor of the church on Insel 28 and invites the protagonist to a joint meeting in the church.
Dilse She is the bagpipe teacher of the narrator on Insel 28.
Marte Marte, a "experienced" woman, shows the protagonist the old people's home on Insel 28 and advises her not to learn bagpipes.
Jote, Danni and Simon The men are part of a research team of excavation workers and archaeologists who are examining the bog on Isle 32. The protagonist accompanies the researchers in their work for some time.
Mr. Wiesent Mr. Wiesent is the manager and only employee of the garbage dump on Insel 33. He shows the protagonist the entire island and tells about his tasks at the dump.

Reviews

“After the basically just decorative“ quiet humor ”of her first book“ Ich muss los ”(I must go) the author has now written a really amazing and flawless little work. She has renounced the pleasures of the coquettishly picturesque and devoted herself entirely to the inexhaustible magic of banality. "

- Frankfurter Allgemeine

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]