Koala (novel)

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Koala is a novel by Lukas Bärfuss from 2014.

Content and structure

At the beginning, the first-person narrator reports that he has traveled back to his hometown to give a lecture on Heinrich von Kleist (who was in Thun two hundred years ago ). Then he eats with friends and his half-brother, whom he has not seen for a long time; but he does not feel well because a young man sits down next to them, so the half-brother begins to sulk. After dinner, the latter also leaves. This is the last time he saw him. He only gives the lecture after his brother has left, as he might hardly be interested in the lecture.

The first-person narrator later goes to an inn where he meets a beautiful Asian woman named Daisy and talks to her. She pays a lot of interest to his not easy interpretations of a poet's work. After a few hours she leaves and he regrets her absence more than the lecture fee wasted during this time.

At the beginning of the book the first-person narrator is used to tell about what happened in his hometown, especially what he was doing there, and about his meeting with his brother. The first-person narrator also gives a lecture on Heinrich von Kleist. Then it is said of the half-brother's last sign of life and his suicide, which the narrator only learns about later. He reacts to this and begins to ask himself many questions about suicide. So he wants to find out why his brother committed suicide and uses historical examples for comparison, including Cato , Socrates or Seneca . In doing so, he tries to find an answer to his act. Up to here is the part that is mostly about his brother.

There is a break on page 60: the reader is transported back to the brother's childhood and the personal narrator is used. More precisely, the brother is with the boy scouts and receives the boy scout name of an animal, namely " Koala ". It explains how this is done. The first-person narrator actually tells the story by referring to his brother as "he" without even including himself.

On page 76 there is the second break: This consists of a transition section in which all the names of the animal are mentioned before the story of the animal is reported. There you learn everything about how the koala bear, which is not a bear, lives and in which context it was first seen by humans, with the story of a man on a ship that sails to Australia , on which criminals from Great Britain are are no longer wanted in the country because the prisons are overcrowded. It's like a story in a story. This part is told like a novel, and there is a protagonist, Ralph Clark, who is separated from his wife Alicia. He loves her very much and misses her very much on the trip to Australia. There the story continues with the English and the natives. You can also learn about history, such as the fact that two years after the koala was discovered by the whites, the first was killed by them. The narrator is neutral (narrator) , therefore one often finds “man” in the text.

The third and last break is on page 170, when the first-person narrator reports back. The brother's funeral takes place there. Like many suicides, the brother is buried outside the churchyard wall and the funeral service is not held in the chapel (page 173).

Important topics, ideas and motifs including function

Suicide

In the book Koala, suicide is the main theme as it was committed by the half-brother of the first-person narrator. The subject of suicide can already be found at the beginning of the book, as the first-person narrator is giving a lecture on the book author Heinrich von Kleist, who committed suicide. This could also be a hint of the drama to come. The first-person narrator asks himself many questions about suicide because of his brother's act and wants to find an answer. Therefore, he thinks and asks a lot (pp. 21–25). After all this reflection, he begins to talk to himself (page 25). He wants to share his thoughts with others, but this is a taboo and instead there is silence; so the first-person narrator wants to find reasons why people keep silent about it (pp. 26–30). He also finds that more people have lost a relative to suicide than he ever imagined. Since it is hopeless to talk to someone about it, the first-person narrator is now doing research on historical examples of suicide. Cato, an opponent of Julius Caesar, committed suicide in the face of inevitable defeat because of his murder (along with others) of Caesar. Seneca and Socrates had to kill each other, that is, suicide under duress. But he also uses less well-known examples such as a certain Marie or an unnamed hairdresser. Heinrich von Kleist was mentioned at the beginning of the book. The first-person narrator tries to compare these examples of suicide with the case of his brother, but he does not know why he did this, because he was not involved in any conspiracy like Cato and was not sentenced to suicide like Socrates, the one from the hemlock had to drink, or Seneca, who had to try to kill himself in various ways, forced by Emperor Nero. The first-person narrator therefore says that suicide is the only free act that a person is capable of (page 30). So he tries to establish a connection between suicide and his own life, where loneliness has played an important role. Then he expresses hatred of his brother because of what he did. One reason is that he has awakened feelings of guilt in the first-person narrator because he has sent a message that he can decipher through his act, but he also finds this act selfish towards the bereaved. As a result, he begins to think about his half-brother's childhood. So he tells what he knows about his childhood, which is not a lot, because they parted ways early on. In the Völkerkundemuseum, the first-person narrator finds a 3000 year old depiction of a suicide who is in an anatomically impossible position with his head turned 180 ° and his neck slit open with ear stakes (pages 55–56). Later, the first-person narrator begins to see the koala everywhere (pp. 57–60).

homeland

Home is an important topic here, as one learns about the connection between the first-person narrator and his home, but only indirectly through Heinrich von Kleist's stay in Thun in 1802. At the beginning of the book, you know that he was home twenty-three years earlier left something involuntarily, but then avoided it. After his brother's suicide, the first-person narrator goes back to “the city”, but he doesn't like this place. He has hardly any connection to his homeland, and with the death of the half-brother, the last one left also falls.

Brothers

His brother also brings up a subject, namely the relationship of siblings . The first-person narrator and he have the same mother, but a different father, but they don't want to see each other as half-brothers, but as whole brothers. The brother was a mediocre student at school who had an unstable state of health, with kyphosis and poor eyesight. So he wore thick glasses (page 46). He has had two accidents with the glassy part of doors. He grew up separate from the first-person narrator and has hardly seen him. The relationship between the first-person narrator and his half-brother is not an ordinary one, because they only see each other because of the duty not to completely lose sight of each other as brothers. But they are not particularly close and do not know much about each other. Their mutual familiarity is limited to complicit silence instead of going into the details. So they only know very superficially of each other how the other is doing and what difficulties he is currently having, as can be seen in the example of the brother's wife (page 7), where the first-person narrator only knows of difficulties that their love for Threatens to end. In this excerpt, the only additional information you get is that they met a few years ago. You can also see that they speak very little to each other when they meet, because at the beginning of the new section in the middle of page 7 it says: "Every now and then we exchanged a few sentences [...]". When the first-person narrator calls the man who has found his half-brother, his friend, this man both found himself obliged to condolish the first-person narrator as the half-brother of the deceased, and the first-person narrator to wish his condolences to the man he knows him as his friend better than he does (pages 14–15), which also shows that they were not particularly close to each other. The first-person narrator looked for the motives for the crime and now suspects several reasons for the suicide. His totem name "Koala" haunted him because it made him feel useless, which is the case with the Koala. He has not made it far to this in life, and he has characteristics of the koala. Like the koala, he was also isolated and a loner. Finally, there is also the fact that he used drugs, namely cannabis . In addition to all of this, there are also relationship problems with his wife (page 7) and the lack of job prospects because he changes his job several times. In any case, he has withdrawn from his duties and responsibilities through his suicide.

Substances used

Half brother

Lukas Bärfuss used parts of his half-brother's life in the book Koala. The author does not know very much about this brother. There are similarities like suicide or childhood memories.

Suicide and suicide

Bärfuss also uses examples of people who have committed suicide, so he researches historical examples, namely Socrates, Cato and Seneca. At the beginning he also mentions Heinrich von Kleist. Then there are unknown examples that hardly anyone can know, like a certain Marie who writes a suicide note or an unnamed hairdresser who leaves a letter. The text is addressed to your loved one. The first-person narrator would have liked his half-brother to do something like that. But these texts are the only evidence of the existence of these people. The first-person narrator also researches the meaning of suicide and looks at words with a similar meaning, such as suicide.

Here are ten historical facts about suicide. In 65 AD, Seneca took his own life under pressure from Emperor Nero. In 1210 a man committed suicide in Reims, after which his body was dragged through the city by the clergy of Saint-Rémi. In 1438 Cuno Godin strangled himself in Freiburg, who was then burned at the stake. On October 30, 1772, the German lawyer Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem shot himself with a pistol because of an unfulfilled love and was therefore not given a Christian tomb. The 21-year-old Czechoslovak student Jan Palach burned himself on January 19, 1969 to protest against the dictates of the Soviet Union. On April 3, 1982, Hedwig Zürcher and Walter Baechi founded the Swiss Exit Association , which is committed to people's right to self-determination in life and in death. Because this is a tradition, 18-year-old Roop Kanwar throws herself at the stake on September 4, 1987 after the death of her husband. Nirvana singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain shot himself with a shotgun on April 5, 1994 and has been an icon of an entire rock generation since then. On September 11, 2001, Mohammed Atta committed a suicide bombing in a hijacked plane by steering it into World Trade Center One . Robert Enke, the German national goalkeeper, throws himself in front of a train on November 10, 2009.

In ancient Europe, especially the Roman Empire, suicide was permitted and sometimes viewed as honorable. For the Romans there were many legitimate reasons for doing this, and for Seneca it was the last act of a free man. For Augustine, however, suicide was a sin , and after several councils in early Christianity it was decided that suicides could not be buried in church. In the Middle Ages the act was condemned by the Catholic Church . The perpetrator's property was confiscated and his body was verbally abused. According to English law, all belongings were realized by suicide . However, if the person was insane, it was not. This law was abolished in 1870. From 1823 on, suicides were allowed to be buried on consecrated land and in 1882 they could also be buried in church. Suicide is still forbidden in the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths.

Koala bear

The author has done a lot of research on the koala and has given the title of the book accordingly. Bärfuss decided in favor of the koala because that was the boy scout name of his half-brother and this could probably be a reason for his suicide. This could have made him aware that he is as useless as a koala and that he doesn't make anything of his life. His cannabis consumption also has a parallel with the koala, because the koala's food, the eucalyptus leaves, act like drugs. Like a koala, the brother is also isolated and a loner. The book also tells you about your relationship problems (page 7). With him there is also a lack of job prospects and many changing jobs, so nothing will come of him. His pursuit of a better life comes to nothing and he remains in his position. There is a large part in the book about the koala and its discovery by humans. This part is introduced by the myriad of names it has. It is easy to see that Lukas Bärfuss did not contribute his own knowledge about the koala, but what information he found about the animal.

History of australia

In the part about the history of the koala, the history of Australia also comes into play. This narrative is like a story in a story because there is one protagonist, namely Ralph Clark, a sergeant. He misses his wife Alicia very much, but he has to get on the ship that goes to Australia with the prisoners. Certain things are made up here like this example with the protagonist, but the prisoners were actually brought to Australia, where they then saw the koala, hence the connection with the koala. There in Australia they have to start a new life where natives already live. On page 149, for example, there is an overlap with the material used for the koala, as Bärfuss speaks of the first of white koalas to be killed. Two hunters shook him from the tree.

Society's Response to Suicide

Often people do not address the issue, rather remain silent about it (pp. 26–30). Suicide acts like a virus that silences people because even today suicide is not viewed well. In 1897, Émile Durkheim put forward the thesis that suicide is not carried out in a purely individualistic manner, but rather follows social maladjustment and a lack of social integration. There is also suicide as a result of too strong integration.

Language and style

Narrative form and narrative behavior

In the book the first-person narrator is mostly used, namely from page 5 (the beginning) to page 60 and then again from page 170 to page 182 (the end). In between, i.e. from pages 60 and 170, the narrator is used. This part can be further subdivided into the personal narrator from page 60 to page 76 and the neutral narrator from page 76 to page 170.

Form of presentation

There is almost exclusively indirect speech such as: "He wanted it, said the younger one, he could testify to it [...]" (page 17). One often finds inner monologues like: “I searched through my memory after a moment when I felt free and at ease in his presence. And I didn't find one. ”(P. 42). The experienced speech is also used here after the first break like here: “He had to make a decision. Trying to get rid of the ropes and swim ashore? ”(P. 62).

Chronology and time structure

The book is written chronologically, but there are always flashbacks. There is a whole part in the book that consists exclusively of flashbacks, namely the text from page 60 to page 170. The narration is fast in most places and of course over a large part of the story, because on page 6, now as an example, it is the end of May 2011 and on page 170 it is the beginning of March 2012. The year is not specified here, but it can be deduced because the half-brother was born in the same year as “Luna 9” in the “Sea der Stürme ”, the Beatles have become more famous than Jesus and Gottfried Dienst prevented Beckenbauer and his cronies from becoming world champions at Wembley (page 46). That was all in 1966. We also know that the brother died at the age of 45, shortly after his birthday, which is in November (page 12). There is another example of the time lapse on page 128: "For fourteen years the animal remained undiscovered by the whites, fourteen years during which the colony developed slowly thanks to hard work, ambition and cruelty." uses the time expansion, as with the half-brother's thoughts, shortly before he learns his totem name: "He now looked into these faces [...]" (page 66). The text is written in the reporting style, as there is no precise specification of the place and time. So one does not find out explicitly in which city the first-person narrator is giving a lecture on Heinrich von Kleist at the beginning of the book. Only the following is said: "I was invited to my hometown [...]" (page 5). He never says which city it is. The timing is also very vague, since it is only said: "[...] on a day in November, [...]" (page 5). This is the information that Heinrich von Kleist then started suicide. Furthermore, the people are often not named exactly or you have to be patient to find the name of the person who has just been described. Heinrich von Kleist is not mentioned on the first page of the story, but it is known that it is about him, as Henriette Vogel, whom he shot, is mentioned. His name is mentioned later. However, we never learn the name of the narrator's brother.

Literary genre

The book Koala was written in prose and is an epic text because it is a novel. The book's length of almost 200 pages speaks for this assignment. As a demarcation from the novella, there is no peripetia here, so there is no turning point. The realistic situation and the use of facts speak rather against the novel. Since the term “novel” covers a large number of books that are very different from one another, there is also a subdivision into novel types. Since the interpersonal is very important here, this book could be called a relationship novel, since the brother's suicide is partly due to relationship difficulties, because on page 7 you learn from the first-person narrator that the brother has difficulties in the marriage.

epoch

The work Koala belongs to the postmodern era because the narrative is rather fragmented, because there are four large parts of the book that are temporally and spatially separated and the first part also has excerpts from earlier times, namely as the self -Narrator thinks about his half-brother's childhood. Therefore the reader has to reconstruct what happened. This can be seen particularly well from the fact that there is a break on page 60 and the action only continues on page 170, although the first-person narrator was more lost in thought before the break. Another feature that speaks in favor of the above-mentioned epoch assignment is that the characters of the characters hardly develop, so the brother has always been a rather isolated person who does not like society and the first-person narrator has shown no change in character. One possible consequence is that one identifies less with such characters because the brother is controlled by others. The fabrics Bärfuss used for his book are also a characteristic of postmodernism, because there are not only historical allusions, but also examples or parallels. The individuality of the brother, on the other hand, speaks more for the literary era of modernity.

The author's biography, ideas and complete works

biography

Lukas Bärfuss was born on December 30, 1971 in Thun . After compulsory schooling he worked as a tobacco farmer, iron layer and gardener. Since he later worked in a collectively run bookstore, an easier path to becoming a writer arose for him. Since 1997 he has lived and worked in Zurich as a freelance writer. Bärfuss founded the artist group “400asa” together with others, for which he wrote stage works, including the grotesque Meienbergs Tod , with which he became famous in 2000. The play The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents made him particularly successful. By 2005 the piece had already been translated into twelve languages. In 2014 Bärfuss published the book Koala, thanks to which he received the Solothurn Literature Prize 2014 and the Swiss Book Prize 2014. The author has also received other book prizes.

Reception and effect

The book was very well received, because in 2014 Lukas Bärfuss received both the Solothurn Literature Prize 2014 and the Swiss Book Prize 2014. The book was reported in many media and there was a lot of positive criticism, here three examples: “Lukas Bärfuss is the most exciting author in Switzerland ”(Richard Kämmerlings, Die Welt ),“ A grandiose, great, deeply moving book, one of the most beautiful that I have read for a long time ”( Elke Heidenreich , Literature Club),“ The novel 'Koala' is big and autonomous precisely in the fact that he claims no narrative logic, in the big themes, the permanent disturbance due to the breaks in the text as well as the completely independent formation of the narrative characterize him ”( Corina Caduff , laudation for the Swiss Book Prize 2014).

Synthesis: overall interpretation of the work

The suicide is even in today's society a taboo subject, because it is much more silent about it than spoken. Different facets of suicide can be found in the book Koala, as historical examples have been given in which the act was done in different ways and for different reasons. The affected people try to deal with it as well as possible, but this is not easy because it sometimes causes permanent damage. Therefore suicide is viewed badly and one is happy if one does not become a victim of this occurrence. Nobody wants to be affected.

Text output

swell

  • Documents from German lessons for the book Koala (school year 2014–2015 Kollegium Heilig Kreuz 3rd school year)

Web links