Conquest (novel)
The novel Landnahme was written by Christoph Hein and published in 2004 by Suhrkamp Verlag.
In this novel, Christoph Hein tells the life story of the Silesian resettler Bernhard Haber from five different perspectives (multi-perspective or polyphonic) using five different first-person narrators, each claiming their own linguistic and character authenticity and depicting different life plans. The time of the novel ranges from shortly after the Second World War to after German reunification .
content
In summary, the story of Bernhard Haber, who was forcibly resettled from Lower Silesia after the Second World War in 1950 , has successfully managed to integrate into the community despite all the pitfalls and barriers that the new home, the small Saxon town of Bad Guldenberg, offers.
Despite the hostility towards the newcomers from Silesia, the death of the beloved dog Tinz, the alleged suicide of the father, which later turns out to be murder by a Guldenberg citizen, and other inconveniences, Haber becomes one of the most influential citizens of the city despite or perhaps because of his stubbornness City.
The novel also addresses the official ban in the GDR to address the German past of Silesia and the expulsion in 1945/46, for which the term resettlement had to be used.
The five storytellers
- Thomas Nicolas
Thomas Nicolas is a schoolmate of Bernhard Haber and describes a significant part of Bernhard's school days. He describes the arrival of the Haber family, the introduction of Bernhard to school, the death of Bernhard's dog Tinz and the start-up of the family, which is disrupted or completely prevented by several inconveniences such as the fire in the carpentry shop founded by Bernhard's father. In this section, the handling of the displaced persons in the small town of Guldenberg is shown particularly clearly.
Thomas Nicolas tells quite soberly. Even if he is rather negative towards Bernhard at the beginning of his story, at the end of his story he tries to get in touch with Bernhard.
- Marion Demutz
Marion Demutz is the first friend of the protagonist Bernhard Haber. In addition to some political backgrounds, she describes the relationship picture of the protagonist Bernhard Haber and his political actions, which will turn out to be revenge on the community of Guldenberg in the course of the novel.
She herself is rather naive and very keen on the appearance and the recognition by her fellow men. So she often lies to herself and is more oriented towards material things.
- Peter Koller
Peter Koller, a schoolmate of Bernhard Haber, is the narrator of the middle and longest part of the novel.
Based on the common school days with Bernhard Haber, he describes the windy business that Bernhard runs after school. Peter is “in love with money” and therefore takes great risks. He tried to get involved in Bernhard's business, but was unsuccessful and ended up in prison for five and a half years after attempting to smuggle some refugees from the GDR .
Peter is very well-meaning, sometimes he seems naive. He always tries to be materially and socially secure. Ultimately, this figure shows what problems it can bring about when you have a lot of goodwill, but don't see through what you are getting yourself into.
- Katharina Hollenbach
Katharina Hollenbach is Bernhard's sister-in-law. She describes the development of the relationship between her sister Rieke and Bernhard, seducing Bernhard in order to later blackmail him.
Katharina is hypocritical and blackmailing and sometimes reacts jealously to her sister's family and material wealth.
- Sigurd Kitzerow
The business partner and friend (although the role of the friend is not fully fulfilled) Sigurd Kitzerow describes the "startup" Bernhard Haber and the business and thus material development of Bernhard Haber, on which he is dependent at the end of his story. However, Sigurd plays a key role, since he helps Bernhard in the "bowling club" of the community, which is a small business cartel of the local self-employed and is therefore indispensable for Bernhard's business success.
Sigurd Kitzerow is a relatively neutral narrator. As a doer and strategist, he has a significant influence on Bernhard.
Interpretative approaches
The novel shows the difficulties of integrating into society. The problem of the individual with society as well as how the individual or groups deal with “the foreign” are presented. The framework narrative of the carnival can be understood as a parody of German reunification.
This novel also shows the operation named by Christoph Hein as the “fifth basic arithmetic operation”: First, the line is drawn and the required and desired result is written below it. This then gives a firm hold for the daring operations that take place afterwards and above the line.
literature
- Fabian Thomas: New lives, new writing? The "turning point" 1989/90 with Jana Hensel, Ingo Schulze and Christoph Hein , Martin Meidenbauer Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-89975-948-8 (comparative study of land grabbing )