Island notes
Island Notes is a novel by Margaret Elphinstone , published in 2002 by Canongate Books in Edinburgh under the English title Hy Brasil . The translation into German is by Marion Balkenhol.
Time and fictional place
The 25-year-old British Sidony Redruth from Cornwall is writing a commissioned work. A travel guide about the volcanically very active and yet inhabited island of Hy Brasil is to be created. Its working title is Unexplored Islands . Sidony's notes on this are dated from May 8 to August 14, 1997.
Hy Brasil, a pirate hideaway as early as the 17th century, is said to be north of the 42nd parallel on the Atlantic ridge near a sea route from Europe to South America . To the west of Hy Brasil lies Newfoundland . There is a ferry to Southampton. The "neighbor" USA, that is Nantucket , is 2843 nautical miles away. English is spoken. No wonder - Hy Brasil would have been the British colony of Frisland from 1812 to 1958 .
content
A love story is told - that of Sidony and 27-year-old Jared Honeyman.
Jared's father Jack was shot dead as a traitor on August 6, 1979. The shooter was James Hook, president of the island state of Hy Brasil. Witnesses are two of the President's followers. James Hook was in the above In the memorable year of 1958, a dozen of his loyal followers landed unnoticed at the NATO base Hy Brasil and in one stroke ended the one and a half centuries of British colonial rule. This was only possible with the approval of the US government. In addition, James Hook's daring commando operation would not have been feasible without the significant support of a base insider, local Jack Honeyman. Years later, when James Hook had long since consolidated his power as President of Hy Brasil, in that year 1979, the former co-conspirator Jack Honeyman had become a nuisance, even dangerous, for the rulers. The now socialist trade unionist Honeyman, who called for free elections every four years, was unceremoniously stamped as a communist by the president's appendix, even as a spy for the English and silenced forever by the president himself.
Unfortunately, one of the two witnesses to the political murder outlined above had made notes of what happened in 1997 and sent them to the father of a friend of Jared Honeyman's. Both the recipient of that incriminating document and his son have died. When Jared rummages through his friend's legacy, the alarm bells ring around President Hook. Jared is imprisoned on the fabricated pretext of possession of drugs. The young man has never seen the document. He doesn't even know of its existence. Jared also doesn't know about his father's death. He thinks his father is abroad. Fortunately for him, Jared has several friends. One of them, 40-year-old Ishmael Pereira, knows about the old stories and finds that explosive letter. With that he successfully presses the captured Jared free at President Hook. Ishmael really has all the trumps in the game against President Hook. He knows, for example, that the island government has tolerated lucrative drug smuggling.
The happy ending:
The sole ruling president mingles with the people and dies on this occasion. You can see the lava flow during a volcanic eruption. Jared, meanwhile informed by Sidony about the end of his father, meets his father's murderer in the crowd and can only be held back by his lover with great difficulty. The distant president staggers and falls into the lazily flowing embers. The way is clear for democratic presidential elections. Ishmael Pereira wins the race.
Sidony and Jared want to start a family. Even before marriage, the couple tries to tolerate the partner's strange tendencies. Sidony can continue to write, but not on private matters. Jared is allowed to ring gannets on the cliffs and dive for the treasures of the sunken Cortes .
Inconsistent
Errors crept into the German first edition (source), e. B.
- ... in which he claims time nowhere real .
- ... is infested with beetles that have never had before?
German editions
Source:
- Margaret Elphinstone: Island Notes. Novel. List Verlag, August 2005. 477 pages, ISBN 3-548-60543-5
Individual evidence
- ↑ Source, p. 37, 13. Zvo: Hy Brasil could be the Hvitmannaland from the Eyrbyggja saga .
- ↑ Source, p. 68
- ↑ Source, p. 331, 4th Zvu
- ↑ Source, p. 72, 9. Zvu
- ↑ Source, p. 217 middle.
- ↑ Source, p. 466. It is left open whether the British Southampton or the eastern Canadian island of the same name is meant.
- ↑ Source, p. 99, 2. Zvo
- ↑ Source, p. 29
- ↑ Source, p. 32
- ↑ Source, p. 17
- ↑ Source, p. 65
- ↑ This is old smuggler Lemuel Hawkins. Source, p. 349 and p. 376, 8. Zvu
- ↑ This is Nicky Hawkins. Source, p. 292
- ↑ Source, pp. 349 to 355
- ↑ As half a child, Jared really got involved in the illegal drug business. Source, p. 323 above.
- ↑ The Cortes sank in 1611 on the voyage from Seville to Panama before Hy Brasil. Source, p. 19
- ↑ Source, p. 105, 3rd Zvu
- ↑ Source, p. 109, 3. Zvo