Island of the Swans
Island of the Swans is a youth novel by the writer Benno Pludra . It is recommended for readers aged 13 and over. Insel der Schwans first appeared in 1980 in the children's book publisher Berlin and was published there six times by 1989. In 1984 a Russian and a Czech edition followed. To this end, the Volk und Wissen publishing house brought out a school edition in 1985. In 1987 there was a licensed edition in the FRG . The novel is divided into 22 chapters and told by a personal narrator . In 1983 the novel was made into a film by the GDR television (see Island of the Swans (film) ).
In terms of content, the novel bears a strong resemblance to the 1971 novel Den Wolken A Bit Closer by Günter Görlich , but it is contrary to this in its comparatively critical examination of the subject and the consequences drawn from the problems and experiences of the protagonists.
content
The 12-year-old student Stefan moves with his mother and sister from a remote village on the Alte Oder , where they lived with their grandmother, to Berlin in a high-rise apartment building on Fischerinsel , where the father works on a large-scale apartment building site.
Stefan finds a new friend in the reserved and fearful Hubert, but he always longs for his old friend Tasso and his grandmother. At school he meets Rita and Anja. Rita, who falls in love with Stefan, is jealous because he pays little attention to her and instead approaches Anja. In the course of the plot, however, he has to take care of Hubert much more, who is threatened and blackmailed after an argument with a boy several years older.
The plan to build a playground between the newly built residential high-rise buildings arouses the children's interest. Together with Harald, a young worker on the construction site, and Larissa, the pioneer leader , they develop ideas for a future playground and start working on their implementation. The plan to prevent a standardized playground fails due to the plans of the responsible adults, including Stefan's father. He undergoes a change from being an understanding father to a "hopeless technocrat [s] and opportunist [s]".
Stefan subsequently falls out with his father and flees from home. He decides to find his way to his grandmother and hitchhikes to his home village. When he gets there, it is already night. In order not to wake anyone, he secretly climbs into the house of an old friend and falls asleep there. His thoughts are with Hubert and Anja. The end remains open .
Analyzes
“Pludra tells once more in the third person. His laconicity, the preference for short, often elliptical sentences, the scenic narrative and the strict present tense in this novel convey the impression of authenticity. The intensity of the narrated moment is not softened by linguistic relativization. This narrative gesture of the here and now determines the atmosphere of the novel and corresponds to the attitude that is ascribed to the protagonist: his persistent refusal to give up childish claims to happiness in the interest of an uncertain and, moreover, less attractive future. The boy refuses to grow up on the paternal pattern. The story ends - as a result of a catastrophic escalation of the dispute over the playground - with his escape to the former 'children's home'. "
“The problem with this interesting and innovative children's novel is that, on the one hand, Pludra initially narrates the interweaving of family relationships with larger social spaces very precisely, but on the other hand, reduces these relationships by fixing the boy's conflict to a father-son controversy. The father gradually coagulates into an incarnation of all manifestations of narrow-mindedness and thoughtlessness in assessing the possibilities of child development. As a result, the social contours of the poetic world lose their sharpness. This result is in contrast to other structural elements of the children's novel, which clearly indicate that Pludra wanted to refer to social barriers to the personal development of young people. "
filming
- Island of the Swans (GDR, 1983), director: Herrmann Zschoche , screenplay: Ulrich Plenzdorf , with Axel Bunke , Sven Martinek and others
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Failing fathers, fleeing children. Post-patriarchal impressions in Benno Pludra's children's literary work ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Gina Weinkauff on the website of the Heidelberg University of Education (PDF, 48 kB; accessed on July 15, 2010)
- ↑ Arrival in new communication rooms - Benno Pludra Island of the Swans (1980) on litde.com - topic portal literature
